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Ethiopian soldiers traded fire with members of local government security forces on Saturday in the country's eastern Somali region after central authorities sought to arrest regional officials, witnesses said.
Residents told Reuters soldiers were deployed in the province's capital Jijiga on Friday evening, bringing them into conflict with the region's paramilitary forces.
"We can still hear shots being fired. They have been taking place since the morning," one resident said.
For the first time in 25 years, an Eritrean commercial plane landed at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport.Ethiopian officials were at the airport to welcome the Eritrean businesspeople, artists and clerics upon arrival to the capital.Over the past two months, former rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea have forged a new friendly rapprochement with reciprocal visits of their leaders to each other’s country.Eritrea and Ethiopia have been in a no-war-no-peace situation after the end of their bloody war fought from 1998 to 2000.Last month, Ethiopian Airlines commenced a twice weekly flight to Asmara, capital of Ethiopia’s northern neighbor, Eritrea.As per their July agreement, the two countries fast tracked the opening of embassies in each other’s country and naming their ambassadors. The agreement also gave Ethiopia an opportunity to use the Port of Assab and Massawa in Eritrea at cheaper rates.Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993.
Eritrean plane lands in Ethiopia after 25-year hiatus
Another resident told Reuters an Ethiopian Orthodox church had been burned down by a mob, while shops, hotels and banks remained closed.
A third witness said government soldiers had been deployed in the region's administration offices with the intention of arresting officials.
It was not immediately clear why the government in Addis Ababa sought to apprehend them. Officials in the capital and Jijiga were not immediately available for comment.
Ethiopia's prime minister has appointed a team to advise his government on the privatisation of state-owned enterprises, his chief of staff said, as part of reforms the new leader has instituted since taking office four months ago.Since becoming prime minister in April, 41-year-old Abiy Ahmed has turned Africa's most populous after Nigeria on its head with his plans to reshape politics and the economy."PM Abiy Ahmed has set up an Advisory Council on the privatisation of large state-owned enterprises," Fitsum Arega, Abiy's chief of staff said on Twitter late on Friday."The Council will ensure the process is managed with utmost transparency and accountability."Abiy's government has said that it is open to selling off a host of state-owned firms, either partially or entirely, as part of economic reforms designed to “unleash the potential of the private sector”.The government was tendering for advice from global business consultancies including McKinsey and PwC, the country's information minister told Reuters in July.Ethiopia has achieved one of Africa’s fastest growth rates over the past decade, averaging up to 10 percent a year.But investors complain about its stifling and antiquated socialist bureaucracy, where the default answer from fearful civil servants is “no” and importing something as mundane as cotton can take six or 12 months.Besides his stated desire to attract foreign capital into one of Africa’s most closed states, Abiy has brokered peace with Eritrea, with whom Ethiopia fought a border war two decades ago. 
Ethiopia's PM Abiy sets up team to advise on privatisation
Ethiopia's Somali region has been plagued by violence for the last two decades. The government has fought the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) since 1984 after the group launched its bid for secession of the region, also known as Ogaden.
Since 2017, clashes along the province's border with the Oromiya region have displaced tens of thousands of people.
The region's officials have recently been accused by the government in Addis Ababa of perpetrating rights abuses. Last month, Ethiopia fired senior prison officials there after details emerged of torture and other abuses in one notorious prison.