ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia rights group says it has evidence of extra-judicial killings

An independent Ethiopian rights group says that there have been more than 100 extra-judicial killings during the recent wave of protests in the country's Oromia region.

The Human Rights Council (HRC), based in the capital, Addis Ababa, said that along with evidence of the killings, it also found evidence of beatings and torture.

"Most of the victims were shot in the back or in the head," the AFP news agency quotes a statement as saying.

HRC said it also found that "government armed men are conducting house-to-house searches at night, committing illegal acts of beating, threats, intimidation and harassment".

The government has disputed previous human rights reports which have alleged similar things.

The current phase of protests began last November with Oromo people angry about a plan to expland the boundaries of Addis Ababa into the Oromia region.

That plan has now been dropped but the protests have continued.

Last week, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that the grievances of the people need to be listened to, but blamed "anti-peace forces" for the violence.

BBC Africa