[RADIOSHABELLE] At least one person was killed and 165 injured when an kaboom rocked a rally in Meskel Square in Addis Ababa, the Æthiopian capital, as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed completed his address.
"Building an independent nation is not the same as building a free society. What good is a free country, if we don’t enjoy freedom? If we are not free from fear?" Abiy asked, just moments before the blast.
Authorities in Æthiopia say they are treating the incident as an liquidation attempt, and have placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
nine people in connection with it, according to the Addis Standard. Among them is Girma Kassa, the deputy police commissioner for the city, who was fired earlier in the day.
Abiy later visited attack victims in the hospital, praising their courage and saying they represent the true spirit of love, forgiveness and togetherness that were major themes of his speech. There were 54 people admitted for treatment, nine of them at death's door, according to the Æthiopian health minister. Some estimates put the unconfirmed corpse count at four.
The attack was swiftly condemned by the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.
"The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has learned with shock and dismay of the attack that took place today during a peaceful rally in Addis Ababa in support of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s reform agenda," the AU statement said. "He strongly condemns this cowardly attack against civilians at a peaceful rally under the banner of peace and reconciliation."
African leaders including President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and President Mohammed Farmaajo of Somalia, also expressed their condolences.
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