Killing of politician from Ethiopia's Oromia region sparks fear of unrest
In Ethiopia, the killing of a senior politician from the Oromo Liberation Front has already led to protests and is likely to aggravate tensions in Oromia, the country's largest and most populous region. At the same time, all parties agree that his death is a great loss for Ethiopia.
Bate Urgessa was shot at point-blank range and his body was found the next day on the side of a road outside the town of Meki, south of Addis Ababa.
“They could not break him, so they killed him,” French journalist Antoine Galindo told RFI on the day of Bate’s funeral, in his hometown of Meki.
“Bate was picked up late on Tuesday 9 April and he was found dead on Wednesday 10 April, on a road outside Meki, his hands tied behind his back, face down, shot point blank in the head,” said Galindo, the East Africa editor for Africa Intelligence magazine.
Forty-one-year-old Battee Urgeessaa – the Oromo spelling of his name – was jailed and assaulted on numerous occasions because of his vocal defence of the rights of Oromo people.
Galindo, who was arrested himself in February on charges of “conspiracy to create chaos”, spent eight days with the Oromo politician in a crowded cell of 30 people in a city police department in the capital.
'Fearless'
“He firmly believed in one thing: the power of the mind over that of the gun,” said Galindo, who shared the “same mattress, same blanket, same food, same clothes” as Bate in prison.
Read more on RFI English
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