Can Ethiopia free itself from the spiral of violence in which it finds itself? The clashes continue in the province of Tigray, thirteen days after the launch of an offensive by the federal army against the Tiger Party TPLF, described as a mafia by the government. More worryingly, new ethnic massacres have taken place in the rest of Ethiopia, killing at least 34 people overnight from Saturday to Sunday. They took place in the province of Benishangul-Gumuz, the site of civilian abuses for many months now.
With our correspondent Addis Ababa, Noé Rochet-Bodin
One bus attacked, at least 34 civilians killed and three simultaneous attacks. The night was bloody in Benishangul-Gumuz province, the site of many raids in recent months, said Aaron Masho, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. “This is just the last attack in a long series. Last month, gunmen killed 15 people. A few weeks earlier, many people lost their lives and more than 300 had to be relocated. ”
There have been more than 100 deaths since September in the region. The reasons vary depending on the interlocutors, some talk about territorial claims, others about the proximity to the Renaissance dam, another reason put forward: the ethnic cleansing against Amhara communities.
“Some of the previous incidents in recent months have specifically targeted members of certain ethnicities. These attacks sometimes fall into a pattern of ethnic violence, with women and children among the victims. ”
► Read also: Ethiopia: new bloody violence in the Benishangul-Gumuz region
This is how the event is related to war is going onand Tigray? Not directly, according to Aaron Masho: “There have really been attacks in recent months where armed men took advantage of the soldiers’ withdrawal to carry out their crime.”
In recent days, many federal soldiers stationed in guerrilla zones have been transferred to the north of the country to fight Tigray’s forces.
► See also: Ethiopia: in Tigray, the threat of an escalation of inter-ethnic violence
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