Six hurt in scuffles with security forces at Ethiopian singer’s funeral

July 2, 2020

By Dawit Endeshaw and Kumerra Gumechu

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Six people were injured on Thursday in scuffles between Ethiopian security forces and mourners trying to attend the funeral of singer Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, whose killing earlier this week sparked protests that killed more than 80 people, a witness said.

Residents reported soldiers, federal police and regional police lining the roads and police firing in the air to deter mourners from entering the stadium in the town of Ambo.

Sporadic gunfire continued after the short service, four residents said. One said he had seen a protester shot in the leg. A visitor at Ambo hospital said he saw six wounded people had been admitted. Another resident said roadblocks had been set up around town and he could not get home.

All asked not to be named to prevent reprisals. Police did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

At the stadium, a live broadcast showed sparse numbers of people. The slain singer’s wife, Santu Demisew Diro, gave a short speech after mourners laid wreaths.

“Haacaaluu is not dead. He will remain in my heart and the hearts of millions of Oromo people forever,” she said, referring to Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group. “I request a monument erected in his memory in Addis where his blood was spilt.”

The popular Ethiopian singer, 36, was shot dead in the capital Addis Ababa on Monday by unknown gunmen. He was laid to rest on Thursday at a church in Ambo, his home town about 100 km (60 miles) west of Addis. He leaves behind three daughters, the youngest a month old.

“It is very sad that his body is accompanied by only a few people and security forces are keeping many others away,” one of Haacaaluu’s relatives told Reuters.

One Ambo resident told Reuters he was determined to attend the service because the electricity had gone out in his house so he could not watch it on television.

“He is our hero, we have to pay him our respects,” said lab technician Mamush Dabala by phone as he got ready to go out. He said he could hear gunshots, but was going anyway.

GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

Billene Seyoum, the spokeswoman for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, described the singer’s killing as “criminal” and said demonstrators who had come out to express their “disdain” for the act had seen their public mourning hijacked.

“There were elements who have damaged public and private property,” she told Reuters. “The government is fully controlling the situation and exercising its responsibility to ensure the rule of law.”

Police are investigating a group of 35 people detained on Tuesday for trying to “hijack” the singer’s body and bury it somewhere in the capital against the will of his family, she said.

The group includes Oromo media magnate Jawar Mohammed, a bitter critic of Abiy. The group is also being investigated for escalating ethnic divisions through the media, she said. In October, 86 people died when Jawar’s supporters clashed with police.

‘VERY SAD’

Haacaaluu’s songs were a soundtrack to a generation of Oromo protesters whose three years of anti-government demonstrations finally forced the unprecedented resignation of the prime minister in 2018 and Abiy’s appointment to replace him.

Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for peacemaking efforts which ended two decades of hostility with Eritrea.

But the Oromo have long complained of exclusion from political power. In recent months, some Oromo activists like Jawar who initially supported Abiy have become more critical, accusing him of not protecting the interests of the Oromo people. Haacaaluu gave an interview criticising Ethiopia’s leadership to Jawar’s television station the week before he died.

For a Factbox:

The singer’s killing sparked protests in the capital and surrounding Oromiya region that have killed more than 80 people so far.

On Wednesday, Haacaaluu’s uncle was killed during a scuffle between police and a crowed outside the singer’s house, the regional police commissioner told state media.

(Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Giles Elgood)