A national state of emergency has been declared in Ethiopia just one day after the unexpected resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.<\/p>\n
A statement by the state broadcaster said the move was necessary to stem a wave of anti-government protests.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people have died in three years of unrest in the country.<\/p>\n
A 10-month state of emergency that ended last year failed to stop the protests, as did the release from jail of thousands of opposition supporters.<\/p>\n
No details were given of how long the latest state of emergency will last or what the restrictions are.<\/p>\n
The government has been under pressure because of continuing street protests.<\/p>\n
In recent weeks it has released hundreds of prisoners including opposition politicians but the protests have shown no sign of ending.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Mr Hailemariam said he had made his decision to stand down in the hope that it would help end the years of unrest and political upheaval.<\/p>\n
“I see my resignation as vital in the bid to carry out reforms that would lead to sustainable peace and democracy,” Mr Hailemariam said.<\/p>\n
The political demonstrations in Ethiopia began in Oromia in November 2015. Protests later sprung up in the Amhara region.<\/p>\n
Oromia and Amhara are the homelands of the country’s two biggest ethnic groups.<\/p>\n
Many people in these communities feel they have been marginalised since the current government took power in 1991.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A national state of emergency has been declared in Ethiopia just one day after the unexpected resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. A statement by the state broadcaster said the move was necessary to stem a wave of anti-government protests. Hundreds of people have died in three years of unrest in the country. A 10-month […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":401993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[3189,202,17124],"yoast_head":"\n