Government moves to ‘widen the political space’

Ethiopia’s Attorney-General has dropped charges against 114 prisoners – including monks – who were accused of terrorism and other crimes. A report on the allAfrica site notes that the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front confirmed that the decision had been taken ‘to widen the political space’. The Daily Nation reports that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday visited a hotbed of anti-government protests, asking residents for patience as he works to bring change to the Horn of Africa country. He is the first Prime Minister to come from Ethiopia's largest ethnic group the Oromo, who spearheaded more than two years of unprecedented protests against the country's one-party government that left hundreds dead.