ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 30, (Xinhua/GNA) – Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz regional state council on Tuesday revoked the immunity of four officials over alleged involvement in deadly violence.
The council revoked the immunity of four members over their alleged involvement in recent violence in the Metekel zone of Benishangul-Gumuz regional state that left hundreds dead.
The list includes Adigo Amsaya, former deputy head of the region who was recently appointed as deputy head of Ethiopia mission to Sweden.
Benishangul-Gumuz regional state located in the western part of Ethiopia has been suffering from recurrent communal violence for more than two years.
Earlier this month, at last 207 people were killed in the village of Bekoji, Metekel zone in Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, as armed men set fire and shot at residents while they were asleep, according to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, a federal rights group established by the Ethiopian parliament.
Ethnic violence between members of various ethnic groups in Benishangul-Gumuz regional state in recent months has left hundreds dead and thousands of others displaced.
The clashes are mainly over access to power and land resources.
Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, located along the Ethiopia-Sudan border, hosts Ethiopia’s largest development project – 5,250 MegaWatts Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile River with a construction cost close to 5 billion U.S. dollars.
GNA