Security is high in the Ethiopian city of Ambo at the funeral of popular musician and activist Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, whose murder in Addis Ababa earlier this week sparked two days of protests that killed more than 80 people.
A farewell ceremony began on Thursday with supporters laying wreaths at the Ambo stadium and mourning the death of the 34-year-old musician from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia. He will then be buried in a church in Ambo, about 100 km (60 miles) west of the capital.
“Haacaaluu is not dead. It will remain in my heart and in the hearts of millions of Oromo people forever,” said Santu Demisew Diro, his wife. “I request a monument erected in his memory in Addis [Ababa] where his blood was spilled. “
The singer was shot dead in the capital on Monday by unknown gunmen.
His songs had provided a soundtrack to a generation of Oromo protesters whose three years of anti-government protests finally forced Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to resign in 2018. Hailemariam was replaced by Abiy Ahmed, the first Oromo to become the Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
Ethiopian military travel in their van as they patrol the streets after the protests in Addis Ababa [Tiksa Negeri /Reuters]
Following the murder, protests broke out Tuesday morning in the capital and other towns and cities in the surrounding Oromia region. The army was deployed to Addis Ababa amid reports of armed gangs roaming the neighborhoods on a second day of riots on Wednesday. Meanwhile, internet connectivity appeared to be down for the third day on Thursday.
“The riots and demonstrations that we have seen in the last 48 hours were caused by the government’s refusal to have Hundeessaa buried in Addis Ababa, “he said Mohammed Adow of Al Jazeera, who has reported extensively on Ethiopia.
“The government considered that this was not going to go well in terms of security and said that it should be buried in [his hometown of] Ambo.
“But his supporters, members of the opposition and officials thought it appropriate for a Oromo man and a leading figure … to be buried in the capital.”
At least 35 people have been arrested this week, including his partner Oromo and media tycoon Jawar Mohammed, who was detained after his followers attempted to intercept the singer’s body while transporting him to Ambo.
Jawar was a prominent advocate for Abiy’s appointment, but became more openly critical last year. Its popular Oromia Media Network gives it the ability to quickly mobilize support through Oromia, and its power base could represent a significant challenge for Abi’s party in the country’s elections, originally scheduled for this year but postponed due to the pandemic of coronavirus.
Ethnic disturbances
The funeral was broadcast Live on the Oromo Broadcasting Network, owned by the Oromia Regional State.
Police were pulling people away from the stadium, according to an Ambo resident who tried to attend but encountered crowds of people who had been told to return home.
Members of the armed forces, federal police and regional police were in force, he told Reuters news agency.
“It is very sad that his body is accompanied by only a few people and the security forces are keeping many others away,” one of Haacaaluu’s relatives, who was allowed to attend the funeral, told Reuters.
Abiy has indicated that foreign forces may have been involved in the singer’s murder in an attempt to destabilize the country.
“One of the big questions is who really killed the musician?” David Shinn, the former US ambassador to Ethiopia, said.
“This is the party that caused everything and I think what you are seeing here is a lot of ethnic unrest, which has been caused by this incident,” he told Al Jazeera.
‘Imposing figure’
The riots could become Abidi’s biggest test since he took office two years ago. its The rise to power ended decades of political dominance by Tigray’s ethnic leaders in the ethnically diverse nation of some 110 million people.
The Abiy government has given way to greater political and economic freedoms in what was long one of the most repressive states on the continent. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his reforms and his work to end a long-standing conflict with neighboring Eritrea.
Hundeessaa rides a horse in traditional dress during the celebration of the 123rd anniversary of the Battle of Adwa, where Ethiopian forces defeated the Italian invading forces, in Addis Ababa [File: Tiksa Negeri [Reuters]
But increased political activism has also led to increased unrest, with the Abiy government frequently challenged by local power brokers demanding more access to land, power and resources.
“The current prime minister did not really address the fundamental questions that the Oromos have been asking for a while,” Awol Allo, professor of Ethiopian law at Keele University, told Al Jazeera.
“The Oromos have been demanding that their language be recognized as a national language, and nothing has been done about it, and some of the strategic steps the prime minister has taken really angered several people,” he said.
Awol said the murder of an “imposing figure” like Haacaaluu “It could ignite a significant level or anger, but it’s also the accumulation of those expectations that got nowhere, so there are all those frustrations that are boiling. “
Tsedale Lemma, editor-in-chief of the Addis Standard publication, described Haacaaluu as an icon “larger than life” that embodied the struggle of the Oromo people “for equality and justice”.
“Leave behind a man’s legacy [who] it is the institution of the consciousness of the Oromo people, “he told Al Jazeera.
“When people took to the streets those who were shot and killed, he consoled the Oromo with his songs of revolution, love and resistance to the system that really oppressed people and led them to their streets.”
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