The Council of Ministers (CoM) has approved a draft bill which will lift the state of emergency that was imposed in February for a six-month period. The Council passed the bill to the parliament for consideration.
The state of emergency was reinstated after months of widespread protests and political unrest across the country.
“The Council reviewed the security situation of the country, and it noted that law and order had been restored,” Fitsum Arega, the prime minister’s chief of staff twitted yesterday.
The second declaration for the country in a two-year period, the emergency was declared a day after the former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s resigned. The last one was phased out in August 2017 after staying for 10 months. It was first declared for six months but later extended for additional four months.
This is another milestone of the new Prime Minister which came to power last April. Since then, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD), released thousands of prisoners including Andargachew Tsige, Melaku Fenta and the Swedish medical doctor Fikru Maru. Just a week ago the government had also dropped charges and pardoned hundreds of prisoners, who were charged and convicted for allegedly being involved in corruption, terrorism and other crimes.
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