Inter-ethnic violence reaches a new level in Ethiopia. On Sunday, November 1, a massacre claimed the lives of at least 54 people in the western part of the country.
Civilians belonging to the Amhara ethnic group have been targeted, as has been the case in various provinces, for several months now.
Tensions between Oromos and Amharas, the two main ethnic groups in the country, have claimed hundreds of lives this year.
Immediately after the withdrawal of federal soldiers, usually stationed in the area, about sixty militiamen entered three villages in the western part of the Oromia region.
According to testimonies gathered from survivors, the gunmen would have gathered the residents of the schools before killing them coldly. Among them women and children. The current death toll of 54 would be far below reality, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission specifies. For one of the political parties representing the Amhara ethnic group, NAMA, it would even be over 200 victims.
No demands have been made yet, but the government has already pointed the finger at the responsibilities of the Oromo Liberation Army, said OLA, a group of ethnonationalist militiamen from the Oromia region. For two years, the OLA has waged a guerrilla war against the national army, which is also accused of numerous abuses in the region.
As Ethiopia as a whole undergoes a period of violent ethnic allegations, amharas pay the heaviest price. In September, 45 of them were killed under similar conditions and 31 in October. Last weekend, a demonstration by the ethnic group Amhara to oppose these massacres was canceled, the government considered unnecessary.
