The Minister of Defense and Secretariat of the National Security Council, Siraj Fegessa, accused officials of the Oromia and Somali Regional States of showing extreme reluctance to bring perpetrators, who were involved in the recent boarder clash between the two regions, into justice.
Siraj, who briefed the media on the current security situation of the country today, told journalists that, even though arrest warrants were issued, the regional officials are consistently failing to place the suspects under custody and bringing them before a court of law.
According to the minister, out of a total of 55 warrants issued for the arrest of suspects from the two regions, so far only 15 are properly executed. Among these, 29 warrants were issued for suspect from the Somali region and among whom only 12 were brought under custody so far, the minister complained.
Similarly, arrest warrants were issued for 26 suspects from the Oromia region, where only three were arrested to date, he added.
Although some previous reports indicate that the clashes resulted in the death of thousands and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, Siraj refrained from discussing the death toll and the number of people who are displaced due to this bloody conflict.