Taye Dendea, who was Ethiopia’s State Minister of Peace, has been removed from his position days after he chided the authorities for banning an anti-war rally in the capital Addis Ababa.
A brief letter circulating on social media and signed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed states Taye has been removed from his position. In the letter, Abiy thanked Taye for his service. Ethiotube has not confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
However, in a post on Facebook Taye, who’s held different government positions in the past four years, confirmed he’s been removed from his post.
In his strong worded remarks, Taye criticized the prime minister and claimed he lost his post because he spoke against conflict.
In a previous Facebook post, Taye called the prohibition of a demonstration called, among other things, to urge warring parties in Oromia and Amhara regions to return to peace a “historic blunder.”
Preventing people from protesting conflict “in the very square we beat war-drums” would give a bad impression, Taye had written, and could push more people into rebellion.
Taye had been in the news recently after he blamed the very government he was part of for the failure of peace talks with the armed group the Oromo Liberation Army/Shene. The group, designated as a terror organization by Ethiopia’s lower house of parliament, and the government have been trading accusations for the failure of the talks.
