Oromos of Ethiopia
The Oromos are the largest of
Ethiopia's some 80 ethnic groups (AFP Photo/YONAS TADESSE)
Addis Ababa (AFP) - Ethiopia has
said some 1,000 fighters with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebel group have
given up arms and entered rehabilitation camps, according to state media.
Popular among the largest ethnic
group, the Oromo, the OLF fell out with the ruling Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1992 and soon began launching armed
attacks.
Last year, reformist Prime Minister
Abiy Ahmed removed the OLF from a list of terror organisations, and its exiled
leadership made a triumphant return home.
"Parts of Oromia regional
state, which had been suffering from unrest, are returning to normalcy, with
OLF fighters giving up their arms and re-integrating back to their local
communities," Admasu Damtwe, head of communications for Oromia, told state
media on Thursday evening.
"The insecurity in parts of
Oromia where OLF fighters used to operate had led to the suspension of basic
government services including education, but now with OLF fighters abandoning
armed struggle, the government can focus now on development works," he
added.
His claim has not been confirmed by
the OLF.
The deal between the government and
OLF has run into trouble recently, with Addis Ababa deploying soldiers against
armed members of the group it claimed were robbing banks and attacking
residents in the remote west of the country.
The OLF denied this, and has accused
the government of failing to meet its promise of integrating its combatants
into the armed forces.
The Oromos are the largest of
Ethiopia's some 80 ethnic groups, with 35 percent of the nation's nearly 80
million inhabitants.
After the fall of Ethiopia's Marxist
regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, the OLF was part of the country's
transitional government.
But after numerous disputes with the
leadership it quit and demanded the creation of the independent state of
Oromia.
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