Addis Ababa - Ethiopian police have arrested 56 people in connection with this month's ethnic violence in the south-western regions of the country that left at least 30 people dead, the official news agency reported on Sunday. The fighting was triggered by an ambush on December 13, after which gunmen killed several people near the town of Gambella. The violence forced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to withdraw its non-essential staff from the region. Addis Ababa has often accused the EPLF, the governing party in neighboring Eritrea, of supporting and training militants of the OLF, an armed separatist group in southern Ethiopia. Somali Islamist group Al-Itihaad Al-Islamiya (Unity of Islam) has also been accused by Ethiopia of having direct links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Source: Ethiopian News September 12, 2017 04:18 UTC