Six members of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) were among those arrested when government forces in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa have released them from police detention. Two of them were freed earlier this month.
The arrest took place on November 5 amid the serious situation in Ethiopia, which is being devastated by the increasingly ruthless confrontation between government forces and the separatist group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray.
“Seven of the arrested Salesians were released on Saturday (November 13). They were released after various interventions, including the Italian embassy in Addis Ababa and the Apostolic Nuncio in Ethiopia, ”said a source among Silesians who doesn’t want to reveal the identity.
It is not total freedom, the source also said, and explained, “they were instructed not to leave the Salesian premises; they are under house arrest ”.
“Each of them was obliged to pay 10,000 Ethiopian coins (approximately $ 209),” the source revealed, adding that two other Salesians remained in police custody when the seven were conditionally released and confined to their homes.
The two Salesians were not released along with others probably because “they were in that region (Tigray) when the war started,” said the source in reference to the events of 4 November 2020, when the government of Ethiopia led by the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, ordered a military offensive against the authorities in the Tigray region.
An Ethiopian-born SDB member described the November 5 raid as “mass arrests of Tigers in Addis Ababa” during which “police raided two Don Bosco precincts, one of them twice ”.
“The police arrested 38 people, mainly Tigrayans; they were taken to an unknown location, ”Fr Dory Amene Yohannes told ACI Africa on November 10, referring to the arrests that took place in the Gottera and Mekanisa areas of Addis Ababa.
He added that 11 SDB members were among those abducted by the police during the November 5 raid.