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Africa Live: Women accused of booing Zimbabwe first lady freed - BBC News Africa Live: Women accused of booing Zimbabwe first lady freed - BBC News
(32 minutes later)
Kalkidan Yibeltal
Nine women who had been arrested in Zimbabwe for allegedly booing the first lady have had the charges dropped, local media report. BBC News, Addis Ababa
They were withdrawn on the instructions of First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, the reports said, citing presidential spokesperson George Charamba. Fighting has flared up in one of the disputed areas between Ethiopia’s Tigray and Amhara regions in a rare episode of violence after a peace accord signed in late 2022 ended one of Africa’s deadliest wars.
"Both the first lady and police commissioner general agreed the officers on the ground overreacted," Mr Charamba was quoted as saying. Raya Alamata district - claimed by both regions - had been under southern Tigray before war broke out but has since been seized by Amhara forces.
The women, who ranged in age between 19 and 49, were said to have allegedly booed Mrs Mnangagwa after missing out on food and clothing handouts that she was distributing at a charity event in the eastern Manicaland province last Wednesday. Residents told the BBC that fighting began over the weekend and continued for days.
"Prosecutors charged that the women, who were seated on the ground stood up and started booing the first lady while she was making her closing remarks during her address intending to disrupt her speech and show disgruntlement that they had not received anything from her," the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZHLR), who represented the women in court, said. Amhara officials accused fighters aligned with the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) of launching offensives, while the head of Southern Tigray said Amhara militiamen opened fire.
They had been accused of “unlawful, abusive and insulting” behaviour towards the first lady and were subsequently charged with disorderly conduct, ZHLR added. The opposition National Movement of the Amhara (NaMA) in a statement blamed the TPLF which it said was launching “an invasion.”
The organisation said the women denied the charges, arguing that they had been arrested for leaving the event while the first lady was still speaking. Getachew Reda, the head of Tigray’s interim administration, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), blamed “diehard enemies” of the peace deal “from near or far” for the recent incidents without giving further details.
He said the reported violence did not entail conflicts between Tigrayan forces and the federal government or between the neighbouring regions Tigray and Amhara.
It is not clear if there are any casualties but pro-Amhara media outlets reported that Tigrayan forces advanced into some of the district on Monday.
The Ethiopian federal government has recently said the army would control disputed areas until a resolution is made.
There are concerns that this could further complicate the conflict that has been raging since August last year in Amhara - Ethiopia’s second most populous region - between local militias and the army.
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