In a press release given by Oromia Police Commissioner General Alemayehu Ejigu, several citizens were killed and wounded in the western zone in the past few months. According to the police commissioner for the past six months, his office was putting an effort to resolve issues in a peaceful manner. Despite the effort, 29 civilians and 12 police forces were killed while 77 police members and 40 local militias were wounded.
In the western and eastern region of Welega including Qelem and Guduru Welega Zone several government institutions were forced to suspend their service. In Qelem Wereda alone more than 2072 Kalashnikov were robbed from police posts and 3 million birrs was looted from government office based Western Welega.
The police commissioner also highlighted the robbery account report doesn’t even include those robbed from the public. The police commissioner blamed OLF while reminding the agreement that was made between Asmara based OLF and ODP in allowing the front to operate its political activities in a peaceful manner. Irrespective of the agreement the group was disrupting the public day to day life by posing threat.
While the police commissioner put the blame on OLF, OLF senior officials are denouncing the accusation by blaming the gov for failing to stick to the deal that has been reached in Asmara.
Following the ongoing arrest in western Welega police was able to learn that the lawlessness and efforts to disrupt normal life in the region were financed by external actors who want to destabilize the region.
In this final statement the police officer affirmed that the government will no longer tolerate any form of disobedience in the region.
