CNN
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At least 200 civilians are believed to have been killed Oromia Region of Ethiopia On Saturday by the rebel group Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), according to reports, a rights group and local officials. A police officer said most of the victims belonged to the Amhara ethnic group.
According to a statement by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the attack on the city of Gimbi was linked to fighting between government forces and the OLA. The EHRC told CNN on Monday that the attack had “injured hundreds of millions of people, destroyed villages, and traumatized entire communities.”
The OLA – which formed an alliance with Tigreyan rebel forces against Ethiopia’s federal government in the country’s protracted conflict last year – has denied all allegations. OLA spokesman Odaa Tarbii said on Sunday that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s “regime” is again blaming the OLA for atrocities committed by its own retreating fighters.
The rebel group is designated as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government, and is often accused of attacking civilians and targeting ethnic Amhars.
The incident is one of the worst atrocities in the country since fighting broke out in Ethiopia’s northern Tigre region in 2020, when Abiy’s government and its allies in the neighboring Amhara region tried to suppress an insurgency by the Tigre People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Of.
The TPLF dominated the government of Ethiopia before Abiy came to power.
The ensuing civil war has seen both sides commit atrocities, according to human rights groups, and risk dividing an ethnically diverse country. There is no indication that the TPLF was involved in Saturday’s attack.
A local police officer involved in attempting to respond to Saturday’s incident told CNN that Saturday’s attack took place near Tole, a village in Gimbi, in which most of the victims belonged to the Amhara ethnic group. The police officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
He said the attack came days after heavy fighting between government security forces and the OLA in the area.
The survivors and those who fled told the police officer that the attack began when members of the OLA attempted to cross through the village but were refused access by local residents and some armed civilians.
A resident of the village, who spoke only on condition of anonymity fearing reprisal, said he saw Ola militia descending on a main road on Saturday morning and then dispersed towards neighboring villages. He said government forces, which had seen the toll increase earlier in the week, had left the area days before the attack.
Respondents were sent to the spot on Sunday to retrieve and bury the bodies, the police official said.
Federal forces have now secured the area, the EHRC said, but “residents are still seeking immediate assistance due to security concerns in the area.”
According to a statement published on Sunday, the Oromia regional government accused the OLA of attacking civilians after “being unable to resist attacks by security forces” and vowed to intensify attacks on the group.
“Attack on innocent civilians and destruction of livelihoods by illegal and unregulated forces is unacceptable,” Prime Minister Abiy said in a tweet on Monday.
The head of the EHRC, Daniel Bekele, in a statement to the commission on Sunday urged officials to “ensure the necessary measures to protect civilians” and “find a permanent solution to the problem”.
Ethiopia is an ethnically and religiously diverse nation of approximately 110 million people who speak many different languages. Its two largest ethnic groups, the Oromo and Amhara, make up over 60% of the population. Tigress, the third largest, are about 7%.
Last week, Abiy said that the Ethiopian government A committee has been formed to discuss With forces from the Tigre region. The development is an important step towards peace talks between the two sides.