Tensions in Ethiopia’s southern Hawassa city claim 3 lives, injure dozens

Tensions are high in the Ethiopian southern city of Hawassa where hospital authorities said on Friday that at least three people have died amid a showdown between state security forces and some local activists who want to declare a new region for their Sidama ethnic group.

The threat of large-scale violence in Hawassa city centre on Thursday was largely averted after a Sidama opposition party agreed to delay declaring their own region and accept a government offer to hold a referendum in five months.

The threat to unilaterally declare a new region was a direct challenge to the authority of the Ethiopian federal government, which oversees nine regions in the nation of 105 million people.

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