New Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Monday described past torture by the East African country’s security services as “our act of terrorism” as he championed his reform agenda in parliament.
The BBC reported that Ahmed, who sacked the country’s military and intelligence chiefs as well as the national security adviser earlier this month, told the House of People’s Representatives: “Does the constitution say anyone who was sentenced by a court can be tortured, put in a dark room? It doesn’t. Torturing, putting people in dark rooms, is our act of terrorism.”
Ahmed was speaking in parliament after unleashing a slew of reforms during his first months in office, including ending Ethiopia’s border dispute with Eritrea and opening areas of the economy to foreign investment.
When one of the legislators challenged Abiy on the constitutionalism of releasing prisoners, especially those jailed for corruption and terrorism, the prime minister simply said, ‘jailing and torturing, which we did, are not constitutional either’.
Abiy added that terrorism includes the use of force to unconstitutionally stay in power.
Since taking office in April this year, Abiy has undertaken radical reforms including reaching out to the opposition groups in exile, extending an olive branch to Eritrea by indicating that his government would leave a disputed town and initiating a process to liberalise the economy.
