Merkel visiting Ethiopia as state of emergency unfolds

Africa Juice, which is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, employs more than 2,000 people to process passion fruit for export and produce fruit and vegetables for the domestic market, Chief Executive Officer Harry Van Neer said.

Government blocked access to fixed line internet service and mobile data almost a week ago, without any official explanations for the shutdown, although the move appears aimed at suppressing the protests since social media has played a huge role. Federal troops, who were only to enter regions like Oromia at the request of the local government, can now be deployed across the country.

The country's Oromo and Amhara communities have been protesting against marginalisation by the government.

Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome, in his remark to the parliamentarians on Tuesday afternoon, indicated that his government would allocate $500 million (10 billion birr) to youth employment programmes in the coming months.

Long-running protests over the government's monopoly on power and human-rights abuses have swelled recently in Oromia and Amhara, another regional state.

After meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Merkel said Germany has offered to train Ethiopia's police to deal with the sometimes deadly demonstrations that have caused one of Africa's best-performing economies to declare its first state of emergency in 25 years. Communicating, writing, and disseminating information that "could incite chaos" has also been banned. The protesters demand more freedoms from the government accused of being increasingly authoritarian. It's meant to symbolize being arrested by authorities.

"What we have is anti-Ethiopian elements using the protesters to attack whatever achievements Ethiopia has made in the last 15 or 20 years", said Getachew.

"Failure to observe the measures would lead to imprisonment for a period of five years", the attorney general added. It can be renewed. The deadly crush was sparked by police firing tear gas and warning shots at a huge crowd of protesters attending a religious festival. At least 55 people died from drowning in the nearby lake or were crushed to death.

"Vital infrastructure, businesses, health and education centers, as well as government offices and courts have been destroyed", he said.

Men walk past a bus that was torched during protests in the town of Sebeta, Oromia region, Ethiopia. Sunday's announcement was "a way of legalizing what they have been doing for the last few months".

Ethiopia has always rejected these figures claiming that people who perished during protests were killed by "anti-peace" forces.

Egypt's foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday media reports that Egypt's ambassador to Addis Ababa met with Ethiopia's minister of foreign affairs on Wednesday to answer questions related to the authenticity of a video reportedly showing unidentified Egyptians hailing the separatist Oromo Liberation Front during a recent public gathering of alleged Oromo supporters in Cairo.