Amnesty caught up in Ethiopia Twitter entanglement

There’s growing anger in Ethiopia after Amnesty International deleted and apologised for a Twitter post calling for justice for people killed and arrested in protests that followed the killing of popular musician Hachalu Hundessa in June.

People mainly from the Oromo ethnic group have questioned why the rights group made the apology.

In a report released last week, which it shared on Twitter, Amnesty called on Ethiopian authorities to ensure accountability.

But on Monday it deleted the post and instead apologised saying, “ the communications team recognises the negative impact of our recent media output and apologises for posting it in error.”

While some people expressed their anger, others welcomed the apology saying the post had been biased.

Amnesty hasn’t clarified why it deleted the post nor the "error" mentioned in the apology.

The UK embassy in Ethiopia also got entangled in the saga after first questioning the Amnesty International apology in a Twitter post before it also deleted its comment and issued an apology.

Ethiopia has witnessed violent protests since the killing of Hachalu, whose songs became the anthem of the protests that forced the former prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn to resign in 2018.

More than 200 people were killed and 9,000 arrested in the violence that broke out after the singer's death.

Oromo youths have been accused of carrying out ethnic and religious attacks against people perceived to be outsiders in Oromia region.