At least 59 people have been killed in two days of protests and ethnic violence in Ethiopia since the murder of a prominent ethnic Oromo singer, according to an AFP tally of figures from a regional official and an opposition party.

Getachew Balcha, spokesman for the Oromia region, said the state had recorded “50 who died” on Tuesday in the region which surrounds Addis Ababa, and is considered the heartland of the country’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo.

He said that fresh violence had erupted between locals and security forces on Wednesday in Ambo, the hometown of the singer Hachalu Hundessa, which lies west of the capital.

Ambo communications chief Milkessa Beyene said that violence broke out as a group of young Oromo nationalists demanded that the singer Hachalu Hundessa be buried in Addis Ababa.

Among those killed in the clashes was Hachalu’s uncle, said Beyene.

A representative of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, Teshome Bongase, told AFP he had documented nine deaths and 10 people with critical injuries at the Ambo referral hospital.

AFP