Southern Ethiopia unrest kills at least 18: hospitals

At least 18 people were killed in southern Ethiopia in days of clashes between soldiers and protesters agitating for the creation of a breakaway state, hospital officials said Monday.

The unrest stems from efforts by members of the Sidama ethnic group, the largest in the southern region, to establish a new semi-autonomous state -- a project that put them on a collision course with the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Ethiopia is already partitioned into nine semi-autonomous regions.

The Sidama are part of the diverse Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region.

The constitution requires the government to organise a referendum for any ethnic group that wants to form a new entity within a year of them requesting it.

The Sidama Liberation Movement, a political party that had been leading calls for the new state, last week accepted government demands for a delay pending a plebiscite before the end of the year.

But not everyone was happy with the new timeline, and protesters started lobbing stones at security forces and burning tyres once it became clear that a state declaration was not imminent.

Hospital officials in Hawassa, the regional capital, confirmed last Friday that four people were killed in protests there.

Security forces including soldiers managed to quickly assert control over the city, which has been calm for the past few days.

But violence in towns outside Hawassa continued over the weekend and on Monday morning, upping the death toll considerably.

A hospital official in Woreta Rassa, located about 30 kilometres (18 miles) outside Hawassa, said Monday that 12 people had died after being shot by soldiers late last week.

"Twelve people from the community were killed and 19 were injured," said the official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to reveal casualty totals.

"They were fighting the military."