The funeral of Hachalu Hundessa, the famous murdered Ethiopian singer took place Thursday in his hometown of Ambo, in the Oromia region.
The singer, whose very political texts expressed the frustrations of the Oromo, who long considered themselves marginalized, was shot dead Monday night in Addis Ababa.
His death immediately rekindled tensions. Protests have killed 81 people, and heightened political and community tensions in the country.
For the past two days, protesters have expressed their anger in the capital and in Oromia, the stronghold of the Oromo, the country’s largest ethnic group.
It is a plan of the federal government foreseeing the extension of the capital towards Oromia which had started in 2015 the anti-government demonstrations which led three years later to the coming to power of Abiy Ahmed.
Since coming to power, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner has worked to promote political and economic reform. But this opening left the field open to inter-community violence which is testing the Ethiopian system of ethnic federalism.
–
