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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World

Mass grave of 200 bodies discovered in Ethiopia

A file image taken in the Somali region of Ethiopia. A mass grave was found in the strife-torn border between the Oromiya and Somali regions (Picture: Zacharias Abubeker/AFP/Getty Images)

Police in Ethiopia have discovered a mass grave containing at least 200 bodies.

It was found along the country's border between the strife-torn Oromiya and Somali regions.

Ethiopia's state-affiliated media reported authorities had been investigating a former administrator of the Somali region when it made the discovery.

Abdi Mohammed Omer is facing trial on charges of human rights abuses and stoking clashes.

He was forced to resign in August and was arrested weeks later after violence broke out in the provincial capital, Jijiga.

Rights groups have routinely accused his administration of abuses such as torture, while some witnesses claimed he had ordered paramilitary raids on civilians in the neighbouring Oromiya province after ethnic clashes there in September last year.

The region has been plagued by violence for decades as the government fought the secessionist Ogaden National Liberation Front - before both sides signed a peace deal last month.

Reporting by Reuters.

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