 |
Ethiopia: more than 200 Amhara
people killed in attack blamed on rebels, OLA spokesperson, denied the
allegations |
Witnesses in Ethiopia reported over 200 ethnic Amhara people were slain in an attack in the country's Oromia region on Sunday, accusing a rebel group that claims responsibility.
As
ethnic tensions persist in Africa's second most populous country, this is one
of the bloodiest such attacks in recent memory.
"I
counted 230 bodies," says the narrator. After narrowly escaping the attack
on Saturday, Abdul-Seid Tahir, a native of Gimbi County, told the Associated
Press, "I am afraid this is the bloodiest strike against civilians we have
seen in our lives." "We're still gathering dead and burying them in
mass graves."
Although federal army soldiers have arrived, we are concerned that once they depart, the attacks would resume."
Another
witness, Shambel, who only supplied his first name for fear of being
identified, said the local Amhara population was keen to be transferred
"before another round of mass executions occurs."
He claimed that ethnic Amharas who were resettled in the area some 30 years ago were being "slaughtered like chickens."
Both
witnesses blamed the attacks on the Oromo Liberation Army. The Oromia regional
government blamed the OLA in a statement, saying the rebels attacked
"after being unable to withstand [federal] security forces'
operations."
An OLA spokesperson,
Odaa Tarbii, denied the allegations. “The attack you are referring to was
committed by the regime’s military and local militia as they retreated from
their camp in Gimbi following our recent offensive,” he said in a message to
the AP.
“They escaped to an
area called Tole, where they attacked the local population and destroyed their
property as retaliation for their perceived support for the OLA. Our fighters
had not even reached that area when the attacks took place.”
Ethiopia is
experiencing widespread ethnic tensions in several regions, most of them over
historical grievances and political tensions. The Amhara people, the
second-largest ethnic group among Ethiopia’s more than 110 million population,
have been targeted frequently in regions like Oromia.
The
government-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission on Sunday called on the
federal government to find a “lasting solution” to the killing of civilians and
protect them from such attacks.
· Ethiopia rights body says video shows extrajudicial killings
0 Comments