Addis Abeba – In a statement it released this morning, the Ethiopian joint security and intelligence task force, which is comprised of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF), the Federal Police Commission, and Information Network Security Administration (INSA), cautioned university students to beware of inciting media propaganda which are deliberately being disseminated to create unrest within university communities, and to steer clear of violence.
The statement further blamed attempts to “instigate violence” within universities on individuals that it accused of being “mercenaries of the terrorist TPLF Junta” who it claimed were “mobilizing to deliberately incite violence”.
The Task Force cautioned students to beware of their presence but also warned that it “will not tolerate anyone who do not refrain and who violate the task force’s warning,” and that it will take “strict legal actions.”
The Task Force blamed unnamed media broadcasts that it accused of disseminating information claiming that “an intelligence team has been dispatched to universities in Amhara region to attack Oromos and other national group students studying at these universities.”
It said that these unnamed media outlets “which are bought with dollars” have been working “to destabilize the country by framing agenda [which are] divisive and inciting sectarian violence,” following the recent violence in Gonder city and using it as pretext. “They have tried to spread the violence to all parts of the our country,” the statement said, adding “however, their destructive mission has been thwarted by our people’s culture of tolerance, foresight, patience and the efforts of our security forces.”
The statement said that federal security forces and the joint Task Force were able to “thwart” recent joint attacks in Gambella city and its environs by Gambella Liberation Army (GLA) and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), referred by the government as “OLF/Shene”; as well as attacks in the towns of Gimbi and Dembi Dolo in western Oromia. “The terrorist groups were significantly wiped out, the crises have been neutralized and normalcy has returned to the areas,” the statement said. AS
Blinken urges political dialogue amid rising violence in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, reaffirms US support for Pretoria Agreement
Unseasonal rains threaten crop yields in Ethiopia’s Oromia, Amhara regions; farmers report crop losses