![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Rally-in-support-of-Abiy-Ahmed-reform-June-23.jpg?resize=780%2C900&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\nSupporters of the reform movement that has been launched by Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have called for a mass rally to be held next Saturday, June 23, 2018, at Mesqel Square in Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The organizing group has issued a statement today outlining the reasons for the support rally. The primary reason the group stated is to demonstrate a strong popular support for the Prime Minister’s actions so far, including the release of political prisoners and opening up the political space in the country. <\/p>\n
PM Abiy has released thousands of prisoners of conscience, called for a national reconciliation, and invited opposition groups for discussions, saving the country for a bloody civil war. Many exiled dissidents are currently returning to Ethiopia heeding the Prime Minister’s call. <\/p>\n
The rally organizers are concerned that forces who oppose the ongoing reform are waging a campaign of sabotage by fomenting ethnic clashes in various Ethiopian towns over the past few days, and drying up the country’s foreign currency reserve. There is a real concern that these forces, who are linked to the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), may attempt to overthrow PM Abiy’s government and institute a military junta. Ethiopia’s history is filled with aborted reform movements. This time there is a determination among Ethiopians that they will stand guard of PM Abiy and his reform agenda. <\/p>\n
Stay tuned for more updates about the planned rally. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Supporters of the reform movement that has been launched by Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have called for a mass rally to be held next Saturday, June 23, 2018, at Mesqel Square in Addis Ababa. The organizing group has issued a statement today outlining the reasons for the support rally. The primary reason the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-222303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Rally-in-support-of-Abiy-Ahmed-reform-23-June-2018-1.jpg?fit=826%2C478&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-VPx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222308,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222303\/revisions\/222308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}