Ethiopia PM vows justice awaits rioters as deaths rise

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has vowed that the rioters responsible for a wave of violence that has engulfed restive regions of the country will be pursued and brought to justice.

In a statement on Sunday, Ahmed said the death toll from the riots had risen to 86, with four women among the victims. The protests in the East African country have swept across the regions of Oromia, Harari and Dire Dawa.

Fifty of those killed came from the Oromo community, followed by the Amharas with 20 and the Gammo community with eight. The rest were from the Guruga, Hadiya and Araboba ethnic communities.

"We have to stop those forces who are trying to pull us two steps backwards while we are going one step forward," said Ahmed, in comments reported by national broadcaster Fana Broadcasting Corporation.

Ahmed said the government will seek to press on with correcting mistakes made in the past and will take all legal measures to ensure peace and security in the country.

The violence broke out on October 23 in Addis Ababa before spreading to the Oromia region. It was sparked by comments from Jawar Mohammed, an activist and media entrepreneur, who accused the security forces of planning an attack against him.

Mohammed, who is said to have almost 2 million Facebook followers, said in a post on the social network that police had surrounded his home.

Hundreds of his followers then showed up at his compound to support him, and launched anti-Ahmed protests that led to the wide-scale destruction of properties in addition to the deaths reported over the following two days.

On Thursday, Billene Seyoum, a spokeswoman for the prime minister, said that 409 people had been arrested during the riots.

Seyoum told a press briefing that investigations were continuing with the aim of bringing all the perpetrators to book.

"Rest assured that the ongoing investigations will ensure that all the people who have committed these crimes, and the agents behind them, will be held accountable," she said.

Seyoum said reconciliation efforts, which she described as the foundation for peace and stability, were being made across the country.

"High-level government officials, including the prime minister, have visited the affected locations and engaged with the local communities to understand their challenges in an effort to address them," she said.

Ahmed, who took office in 2018, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his political reforms aimed at uniting the country and for making peace with neighboring Eritrea.

Ahmed faces the challenge of staging elections next year, as promised, while ensuring they will be fair.