Prominent Ethiopian opposition leader Merera Gudina was on Wednesday freed from jail after all charges against him were dropped by the government.
Merera, the first high-profile dissident to be freed since Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced Ethiopia would release an unspecified number of jailed politicians, expressed his intention to continue to be active in the nation’s political space.
Speaking after his release, he urged the Ethiopian government to hold “honest negotiations” with the country’s many opposition parties.
“It would be good if the government conducts honest negotiations with political forces which have widespread support, in order to create a democratic Ethiopia that incorporates everyone equally,” he told the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate after his release from a prison outside the capital Addis Ababa.
He later told journalists gathered at his residence that he was “very happy” to be freed and asked the government to continue releasing prisoners.
“We will continue our struggle for our people in a peaceful and a lawful manner,” Merera said.
Merera, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), became a rallying call for members of the Oromo ethnic group after his detention by the government.
They carried out months of anti-government demonstrations that spread across Ethiopia, leaving hundreds dead and prompting parliament to declare a nationwide state of emergency.
The OFC chairman, upon his return home, was met by a crowd numbering more than a thousand, an AFP videographer reported.
Some of the spectators chanted slogans calling for other jailed Oromo politicians to be freed.
Merera, 61, is among 528 people whose charges were dropped by Ethiopia’s attorney general this week.
Most of the others were accused of involvement in ethnic clashes in the country’s south.
Fana BC said Merera was among 115 federal prisoners released on Wednesday, although it remains unclear if the hundreds of others promised release were actually freed.
