Protests as activist singer shot dead
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopians erupted in protest on Tuesday over the killing of Hachalu Hundessa, a prominent Ethiopian singer, songwriter and activist, who was shot dead in the capital, Addis Ababa, late on Monday night.
At least nine people were reported killed and many dozens injured in the unrest, heightening tensions in a nation taking stuttering steps toward establishing a multiparty democracy.
Hundessa, 34, whose protest music galvanised members of the country’s largest ethnic group — the Oromo — was shot in a suburb of Addis Ababa and taken to a hospital after the attack, but died later of his wounds, the city’s police commissioner, Geta Argaw, said. Suspects had been arrested in connection with the killing, but did not provide names. Hundreds of people congregated at the hospital in Addis Ababa where Hundessa’s body was taken, and protests broke out there and in other parts of the country. At least nine protesters were killed and 70 others injured in protests in Adama, a town about 100 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa in the Oromia region.
The killing drew condemnation from Ethiopian officials and citizens inside and outside the country, with many remembering how his songs encouraged the country’s ethnic Oromo group to fight against repression. Even though they are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromos have long complained of economic and political marginalisation. “Hachalu was the soundtrack of the Oromo revolution, a lyrical genius and an activist who embodied the hopes and aspirations of the Oromo public,” said Awol Allo, a senior law lecturer at Keele University in England who has written extensively about Hundessa’s music.
His songs, Mr Allo said, were at the heart of a groundswell of antigovernment resistance that began in 2015 with street protests in the Oromia region that eventually led to the resignation of the prime minister at the time, Hailemariam Desalegn. Through ballads like Maalan Jira (“What existence is mine”) and Jirraa (“We are here”), Hundessa was credited for capturing not just the struggle and frustrations of Oromo protesters but also their dreams for the country, Africa’s second-most populous nation after Nigeria. “Hachalu was exceptionally courageous and a man of many great talents,” Mr Allo said. “His songs mobilised millions of Oromos across Ethiopia.”
Internet service across the country was shut down at 9am local time, according to Berhan Taye, an analyst at the nonprofit Access Now. The move, she said, “is simply driving confusion and anxiety among Ethiopians and the diaspora” especially as they seek “credible, timely information” at such a time of crisis.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed expressed condolences over the killing and called for calm. He faces the daunting task of limiting the spread of the coronavirus while sustaining growth and taming an uproar over elections that had been scheduled for August but were postponed because of the pandemic.