By Dawit EndeshawADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Police have arrested 56 members of an ethnic Ethiopian party over a failed coup in the northern Amhara region, a spokesman for the party said on Thursday. Since its founding last year, NAMA has emerged as a rival to the Amhara party in the ruling coalition, which has held power in Ethiopia since 1991. The party spokesman told Reuters that he had also received reports of arrests of Amhara people in four towns in Oromiya region. These, and the arrests of the party members, "were perpetrated against the Amharas because of their identity," he said. MORE ARRESTSAlso on Thursday, prominent journalist Eskinder Nega said that five fellow activists in a pressure group opposed to domination of the Oromo ethnic group had been arrested.

Source: Ethiopian News June 27, 2019 07:52 UTC