At least 50 people were killed in protests in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, following the fatal shooting of a popular singer, a regional spokesman said on Wednesday. The musician Hachalu Hundessa – famed for his political songs – had been considered a voice for the Oromo ethnic group.
The dead included protesters and members of the security forces, spokesman Getachew Balcha said. Some businesses had also been set on fire.
“We were not prepared for this,” Getachew said.
Late on Tuesday, police said that a policeman had also been killed in Addis Ababa. And three blasts had killed and injured an unspecified number of people.
“Voice of a generation”
Hachalu’s funeral is due to take place on Thursday.
His songs were a soundtrack for a generation of young protesters whose three years of street demonstrations culminated in the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in 2018 and the beginning of an era marked by greater political freedom.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia expressed his condolences and tweeted that an investigation was under way.
Laetitia Bader, regional director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement that the government should act urgently to reduce tensions and ensure that security forces “do not make a combustible situation worse”.
Hachalu Hundessa was considered “an icon of revolution – especially in the Oromo ethnic group”, said DW’s Colleta Wanjohi.
Even as the curtain falls for Hachalu, history will remember him as the heartbeat that brought the Oromo people back to life in Ethiopia.
The Oromo are the biggest ethnic group in Ethiopia in terms of population. They are also the ethnic group credited with leading Ethiopia through a transition from its dictatorial regimes of the to the current leadership under Abiy Ahmed, who is from the Oromo ethnic group.
