Washington (SD) – Nine Ethiopian opposition groups have formed a new coalition in Washington aiming to overthrowing Prime Minister Abi Ahmed.

The opposition coalition includes a Somali organization called the Somali State Resistance, led by Mohamud Ugas Muhumed.

Mohamud Ugas, who is currently in Washington, D.C., where the coalition was founded, told the BBC that the purpose of the coalition was to “ensure that everyone has the right to freedom of expression and association.”

He said all the organizations in the coalition are united in the goal of living together in an inclusive Ethiopia or to disintegrate.

“After these talks, he (Abiy) should leave the country peacefully or hand over power or even form a transitional government and say let’s go to the polls. If he does not do so, the fighters surround Addis Ababa will now take over and the rest of the land,” Ugas told the BBC Somali service.

Mohamud, who also responded to a question about whether he had troops as other coalition forces have troops, some of which are currently at war with the Ethiopian government, said the task did not only require troops but strategy.

Mohamud Ugas was the Minister of Planning in the local Somali State government, working with three presidents.