Addis Abeba – In an urgent statement released to the media this afternoon, the federal government communication affairs bureau issued a stern warning to the Somali regional state communication bureau to stop publishing and distributing inciting messages immediately.
According to the statement, at such a time when the Oromia and Somali regional states were experiencing a fragile security situation, the messages appearing on the Facebook pages of the Somali regional state communication bureau as well as the Facebook page of the head of the bureau Idris Ismael Abdi were against the recent warning by the federal government for all parties to cease disseminating inciting materials.
The warning particularity mentioned a statement released on Idris Ismael Abdi’s page on Tuesday Oct. 05 referring to “The Oromo Peoples war against Ethiopian Somalis”.
“[The statement violates the federal government’s direction”, the statement said. It also added that this was not expected from any leadership which is tasked to implement the federal democratic rule of law. “It is clear” that such acts also threaten the “sustainable peace and security of the nation.” The statement further warned similar acts from other regional state communication bureaus and said the relevant government body will further investigate the matter and decide on the next step.
The statement came after several reckless posts were released on the Facebook pages of Idris Ismael Abdi in the last few months.
Although they appear to be measured responses, his counterpart from the Oromia Regional State, Addisu Arega Kitessa,has also been using his Facebook page to respond to allegations from Idris Ismael Abdi in the initial period of the violence, which has now displaced more than *150,000 Oromos from the Somali regional state.
The Federal Broadcast Authority has already issued and circulated a letter among regional and federal government communication affairs bureaus and state owned media organizations calling on all to refrain from disseminating inciting materials regarding the conflict. Today’s statement also called for restrain from all sides.
