The latest ethnic violence in Ethiopia’s Amhara region has left many dead and displaced hundreds of thousands, a federal official said on Friday.
The attack with gunfire and widespread arson has increased fears of insecurity in Africa’s second most populous country ahead of the national elections scheduled for June.
The Amhara region is dominated by the ethnic Amhara group, Ethiopia’s second largest. The violence started last week in the special zones North Shoa and Oromo, of which the latter is populated mainly by Oromos, the country’s largest group.
The two administrators of the two zones have so far refused to give exact death duties, but Endale Haile, Ethiopia’s chief ombudsman, told the Agence French-Presse (AFP) on Friday after visiting the area that as many as 200 people may have died.
“It is safe to say that more than 100 died. The estimate is up to 200,” Endale said, noting that his figures were “based on information from displaced persons.”
The figures could not be verified independently. More than 250,000 people have been displaced in the northern Shoa zone and more than 75,000 have been displaced in the Oromo Special Zone, he said.
In addition to more than 300 killed and 50,000 displaced during a blast in the same area in March. It is unclear what drives the bloodshed.
Amhara officials have pointed to the involvement of the Oromo Liberation Army rebel group, but the group denies having a presence there. The Ethiopian military said on Sunday that it was sending troops to try to calm the situation. Endale, the ombudsman, said the situation was calm when he visited on Thursday and Friday.
“Now the command is established in the area and they are trying to solve the problems,” he said. “It takes political intervention and religious fathers and different elders to unite the two peoples.”
Reports of attacks on ethnic Amharas have strained several days of protests in cities across the region. Security forces on Thursday used tear gas and fired live rounds into the air to disperse crowds in the regional capital Bahir Dar, but there were no confirmed deaths.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2019, is under pressure to address the violence. Abiy, the country’s first Oromo leader, came to power in 2018 after several years of anti-government protests organized by young people in Oromo and Amhara.
But his term has been marred by ethnic violence, and analysts warn national elections scheduled for June 5 could provide further uncertainty.
