Ethiopia: 14 jailed for AU summit bomb plot

Ethiopia: 14 jailed for AU summit bomb plot

14 people were on Wednesday jailed by an Ethiopian court for allegedly plotting to carry out bombings during the January African Union summit in Ethiopia.

"Four suspects were sentenced to life in prison, six to 25 years behind bars, one to 14 and three to nine years in jail," a Justice Ministry official told reporters.

The bombers were accused of planning to strike a hotel where several heads of state were staying, as well as an open market west of the capital Addis Ababa, as part of efforts to destabilise Ethiopia.

OLF vs Eritrean rebel group
 
Ethiopian authorities have described the suspects as members of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebels who were trained in Eritrea, and said they were caught with explosives smuggled in from the Red Sea state and neighbouring Djibouti.
 Eritrean and OLF representatives were not immediately available for comment.
Ethiopia has been continuously accusing Asmara of supporting rebel groups, and declared in April that it would support Eritrean guerrillas fighting to overthrow President Isaias Afewerki.
 
Tough stance

Rhetoric has often been traded by both sides since their 1998-2000 border war, which killed around 80,000 people and left the frontier demarcation unresolved.
Eritrea was part of Ethiopia until 1991, the culmination of a 30-year secession war by rebels under Afewerki.

REUTERS/Shakira/Ekata