President of the Oromia region Shemel Abdisa announced that efforts to destroy illegal structures will continue to be stepped up in order to modernise Sheger and transform it into a place where development only advances in accordance with plans.
Sheikh Haji Ibrahim Tuhfa, the head of the Supreme Council of Ethiopian Islamic Affairs, led a group that paid a visit to Shemel Abdisa, the ruler of the Oromia region.
In a statement regarding the conversation, the Council alleged that “the Sheger municipal administration, when it started to demolish the mosques that were “built outside of the plan,” did not discuss the pertinent Islamic affairs and did not accept the request for dialogue that was repeatedly presented to it.
The president committed to continuing to halt unlawful construction and demolish existing buildings in order to establish Sheger City, a modern metropolis with 20–30 million inhabitants that cannot be established purely via planning. He requested the aid of religious bodies in order for the endeavour to be successful.
The Assembly of Religious Institutions of the Oromia Region has increased its capacity and declared that the government will no longer destroy religious institutions for no reason, only those that actually require destruction. In this process, religious structures that “do not fit” the newly constructed city plan are replaced with legal entities that do.
The Sheger City Plan, the president highlighted, will substantially accommodate institutions of various denominations, including Islam. He said that in accordance with the plan for this reason, he would give the followers the proper land for the religious office, and that they chose to build multiple modern mosques in the city that complemented the city’s plan rather than utilising tin. He went on to suggest that property would be given to Sheger City for the construction of an Islamic university.
The council, on the other hand, announced that a discussion over the release of the Muslims who had been detained for the previous two weeks till yesterday will take place today at 9:00 am with the chiefs of the federal and Addis Abeba police.
In his statements, he stated that he believed the Muslims who had been jailed would be freed.
The council also decided to name one of the mosques that will replace the ones that were demolished in Sheger city the Martyrs’ Mosque in memory of the Muslims who lost their lives in recent weeks while participating in protests against the demolition of the Anwar and Noor mosques in Sheger city. The names of the deceased would be prominently posted on the mosque’s walls, according to the statement.