Ethiopia says stability being restored under state of emergency

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia .The violence and crises that forced Ethiopian government to declare a six month state of emergency on October 8, 2016, is now improving says, government official.

“The violence has been controlled and we have created a situation where people are in a position to go about their normal lives without fear of being attacked. Many investments and factories are back in business and security and stability has been restored in parts of the country. But still a work in progress because a lot to be done in terms of ensuring that the kind of normalcy returning is sustained,”

Getachew Reda, Minister of Ethiopian Government Communications Affairs Office, said this morning.

Arrests and rehabilitation

 “What we have is now more or less a stable situation. Yes, arrests have been made. People who were involved in killings; who were involved in destruction of property; who have been suspected of committing all sorts of crimes have been handing themselves over," he said.

"As the state of emergency decree clearly points out we will definitely have a rehabilitation program. Those people who have handed themselves over within the prescribed time will benefit from the kind of amnesty that was given them. We can roughly say the number of people who have been arrested as a result of their involvement in destruction of properties has been very significant. And this will continue," Minister Getachew said.

The minister further noted that the Command Post, which is in charge of implementing the state of emergency, has already detained 1,500 people who were involved in the violence

"The rehabilitation sometimes could take a week or weeks," he said, indicating that illegal weapons have also been collected from the violence areas.  The rehabilitation mainly involves lecturing the constitution of the country to the detainees in the rehabilitation centers as well as engaging them in physical exercises, according the minister.

Reshuffle and mobile Internet

“It is expected that any time between now and next week, the parliament will convene and endorse the prime minister’s proposal for reshuffling of the government. The prime minister is also expected to defend the plan of his government based on the motion to endorse the remarks made by the president; that will soon be followed by the reshuffling of the government,” he said.

Mobile data service and social media “When the government assess the situation and feels that mobile data service could go-ahead without threatening the implementation of the state of emergency, then it will immediately switch it on.” The minister said.

In addition to mobile data ban, social media mainly the popular one in Ethiopia - Facebook and Twitter are also still blocked in Ethiopia.

When it comes to the main causes the current crisis, the government mainly believes that it is caused because the youth have a legitimate unmet expectation from the government and this has been hijacked by diaspora elements, which the minister described them as the extremist who want the government to do everything ‘now or never’.

As state media frequently reports,the government also believes the engagement of foreign countries such as Egypt and Eritrea in fueling the violence in Ethiopia, which both countries have been denying.