Oromo members jailed in Addis Ababa

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Addis Ababa - Nine members of the Oromo Liberation Front - blamed for bomb attacks in Addis Ababa - were sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 17 years on Tuesday, the justice ministry said.

In a statement carried by the Ethiopian News Agency, it said they had committed acts of treason in the capital and in the southern Oromiya region in 2006.

"The convicts were accused of collecting firearms, soliciting funds for the terrorist organisation OLF, trying to create chaos among the public and mobilising the public against the constitution," it said.

The Ethiopian authorities have repeatedly accused the OLF of carrying out several bomb attacks in the capital in recent years under the tutelage of Eritrea.

The OLF, designated a "terror organisation" by the Ethiopian government, has waged a low-key struggle for self-determination since 1973. - Sapa-AFP