The Ethiopian Federal Police has arrested five regional state officials suspected in connection with the recent deadly violence that rocked Ethiopia’s western Benishangul Gumuz region in recent months.
The five senior regional government officials were arrested and detained on suspicion of instigating two deadly conflicts that occurred in the regional capital Assosa town last June as well as the recent clash along the borders of Ethiopia’s largest Oromia region and Benishangul Gumuz late November, state affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) reported.
Revealing the arrest of the senior officials, Ethiopia’s police also vowed to consolidate its efforts towards bringing those responsible individuals to justice.
In October, police had also announced the arrest of 10 suspects for masterminding illegal military training of local insurgents in the Benishangul Gumuz regional state.
The suspects were said to be providing military training for locals in order to create havoc in the region.
The arrests were made amid a recent wave of violence, mainly triggered by ethnic differences, in towns across the region.
About a dozen people were killed in clashes in the regional capital, Assosa, and its surroundings in September this year, according to regional government authorities.
The state, located in western Ethiopia along the border with Sudan, hosts the country’s largest development project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile River.
