State of emergency declared in Ethiopia’s Amhara region

Ethiopia’s lower house of parliament has approved a state of emergency declared in connection with the ongoing violence in the country’s Amhara region, the BBC reported.

The parliament’s session, unusually, was not televised but according to a report posted on the House’s Facebook page, the decree was approved with a majority vote.

Rights groups have already expressed concern over the decree as previous state of emergency declarations had led to accusations of abuses and mass detentions.