Ethiopian national security council says security situation improving

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian National Security Council (ENSC) said on Wednesday the security situation in the East African country has improved over the past 45 days.

Siraj Fegessa, Defense Minister of Ethiopia and coordinator at ENSC, said measures undertaken to prevent road blockage by protesters and illegal rallies have been successful.

He also said 270 rifles, 200 handguns, 65,000 rifle ammunitions and 1,000 artillery ammunitions have been intercepted in recent days as they were about to be smuggled to Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

Ethiopia faced in 2016 unrest that killed hundreds dubbed by analysts the gravest challenge to the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front in 25 years.

The unrest which focused on the two most populous regional states Oromia and Amhara led to an imposition of martial law in October 2016 which was only lifted in August 2017.

However, starting September the Ethiopian government has become alarmed at growing signs of renewed unrest in the two regional states.

Many ethnic Oromos and Amharas, who make about 33 and 27 percent of Ethiopia's estimated 100 million population, accuse ethnic Tigrayans who make up six percent of the total population of unduly dominating the country's political and economic scene. Enditem