The Oromia region justice office spokesperson, Taye Dendea is being held in detention for condemning the recent killings in Moyale which caused the deaths of at least ten persons and the displacement of thousands of people. Soldiers in two cars surrounded him in the north of Addis Ababa this morning while he was on his way to his office and took him away, sources disclosed. In stark contrast to the claim made by the command post established to oversee the state of emergency, the Moyale deadly shooting was an accident, Taye said that it was a premediated action by the army. “Describing it an accident was tantamount to insulting people,” he was quoted as saying. He said action by the national defence force is disappointing, and imprisoning only the five members of the army directly involved is not enough. “Those ordered it should also be held criminally responsible,” he was quoted as saying.
While he was at law school at the Addis Ababa University, Taye had been arrested twice, first for three years and then for seven years as suspected Oromo liberation Front supporter, taking him 16 years to graduate from the University.During his time prison, he made the conscious decision to make his stay productive by reading and learning from inmates wiser than he was, translating English books into Oromo language, and teaching inmates how to write and speak English and Oromo languages, he once told an interviewer.
The latest arrest marks the growing authoritarianism of the regime and is seen as part of purge of Oromia region officials said to be complicit in unrest that has rocked the region for the past three years. Activists say the TPLF dominated security and intelligences forces is behind the purge. In the past three weeks, deputy commissioner of Oromia police, mayor of Nekemte were arrested.