The government of Ethiopia today lifted the state of emergency the county declared on October 9, 2016 following the protests of Oromo youth and clashed in Amhara Region mainly in Gondar area.
The parliament in its extraordinary meeting lifted the state of emergency after hearing the report of Mr. Siraj Fegessa, Ethiopian Minister of Defense who is in-charge of the Command Post that has been implementing the state of emergency for the past ten months.
The reason the government decided to lift the state of emergency is said because the situation on the ground has been improving and can be controlled by the regional security forces such as police.
Currently over 7,700 people in Ethiopia are in custody in relations to the violence caused in different parts of the country of which 4,136 are from Oromia Region and 547 are from the capital- Addis Ababa. Those whose cases are now in court also include, 1,888 people from Amhara Region, and 1,166 people are from the Southern region of Ethiopia. Out of the total people under investigation 709 were arrested in possession of different weapons when they were arrested, according to the report of the Command Post.
So far the Command Post has confiscated some 2,732 weapons while arrested and released over 21,000 people after providing them trainings about the constitution of the country and law and order, among others.
Initially the state of emergency was declared for six months and the government decided to extend at the end of March.