Ethiopia Addis tightens security at Renaissance dam site

摘要

Month after month the Ethiopian authoritiesrnhave been beefing up security around thernGrand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).rnIn late September, commandos from thernAgazi Special Forces, an armed wing of thernTigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF),rnthe hard core of the ruling coalition EthiopianrnPeople’s Revolutionary and DemocraticrnFront (EPRD) were dispatched to the site.rnThe move came on top of the installation ofrnRussian and Chinese-built radar systems inrnJune and the arrival of the Ethiopian armyrnin the Benishangul-Gumuz region, wherernthe dam - which is 70% completed - isrnlocated. At the end of September eight memrnbersrnof the security forces were killed inrnclashes with inhabitants in Sherkolle districtrnin the Benishangul-Gumuz area. The inhabitantsrnwere angry at having their land attributedrnto Tigrean gold prospectors who belongrnto the ethnic community that dominates therngovernment and economy. Addis Ababa isrndetermined to transform the dam and thern120 km area around it as a security zonernbanned to aircraft. The deployment of securityrnforces coincided with statements byrngovernment spokesman Getachew Redarnwho accused Egypt and Eritrea of financingrna revolt underway in the Oromo regionrn( ION 1436).