Ethiopian parliament forms committee to investigate ethnic dispute

ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian House of People's Representatives on Friday revealed the formation of a committee to probe the recent deadly dispute between two of Ethiopia's largest ethnic groups.

According to Shitaye Minale, Deputy Speaker of the Ethiopian Parliament, a special committee has been assembled by the lower house to find the root causes of and solutions to the dispute between Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regional states.

State news agency ENA quoted Minale as saying that the committee is currently compiling its report on the dispute along the border areas of the two regional states.

Recent clashes along the border of the two ethnic groups, Oromos and Ethiopian Somalis, have killed 78 people from both sides and displaced hundreds of thousands.

In addition to investigating the nature of the conflict, the committee is also supporting humanitarian aid for displaced people, Minale said.

She affirmed that the parliament will also strictly control and monitor executive bodies that failed in their duties concerning clashes among ethnic groups and the recent violent demonstrations that rocked universities across the East African country. Enditem