Latest news on ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia

Let’s take a look at the ethnic conflicts in Ethiopia. They are many and spread across various regions. 

• 300 killed in March outbreak of Ethiopia ethnic violence, says official
• Clashes involving Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups killed more than 300 people over several days last month, a federal official told AFP Friday, the latest sign of instability ahead of elections expected in June.
• The violence began March 19 and unfolded in two zones of the Amhara region, said Endale Haile, Ethiopia’s chief ombudsman.
• The Amhara region is dominated by the ethnic Amhara group — Ethiopia’s second-largest — but one of the affected zones, Oromo special zone, is populated mainly by Oromos, the largest group.
• “Our findings show that the number of dead are 303, injured people are 369 and there were 1,539 burnt homes,” Endale said.
• The dead were mostly killed by gunfire and included civilians and members of the security forces, Endale said, though he could not provide a breakdown or details on how the violence started.
• https://news.yahoo.com/300-killed-march-outbreak-ethiopia-110555168.html

§      Armed men kill 12 civilians, displace more than 11,000 in Amaro Wereda, SNNP region

• Communication affairs bureau of Amaro Wereda, one of the Weredas in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional State (SNNPRS), said sustained attacks since last week by armed groups left at least 12 civilians killed, eight injured and more than 11, 000, mainly the local Koore community, internally displaced.
• The Bureau blamed the recurrent violence, deaths and displacement of the civilians on a joint attack mounted by armed groups who are attempting to change the defunct Segen Area People’s Zone “into Gumayde Special Wereda” and “Guji armed groups illegally operating inside the Nech Sar National Park.”
• The Amaro wereda communication bureau further said that civilians living in Bunit, Alfacho and Abulo Kebeles (small districts) of Amaro Wereda were the primary targets
• https://addisstandard.com/news-armed-men-kill-12-civilians-displace-more-than-11-000-in-amaro-wereda-snnp-region/?fbclid=IwAR14MSIgxHgpPWmr1El5zFTXD1LqtNhgNvWryGMXkzst-CosVm0a-2zqTmk

§      Border clashes between Ethiopia’s Afar and Somali regions have killed at least 100 people according to  Reuters

• Around 100 civilians were killed since clashes broke out on Friday and continued through Tuesday, Ahmed Humed, deputy police commissioner for the Afar region, told Reuters by phone. He blamed the violence on an attack by Somali regional forces.
• Ali Bedel, a spokesman for the Somali region, said 25 people had been killed on Friday and an “unknown number of civilians” died in a subsequent attack by the same forces on Tuesday.
• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-security/at-least-100-killed-in-border-clashes-between-ethiopias-somali-and-afar-regions-official-idUSKBN2BT2BZ?fbclid=IwAR38Mw4-o-4cYvv7gMa1UfQHh5xjh96KPuNgJDQAhZFT6a_DBKdx7TUXJ0I

1. Reported situation in Tigray including sexual and human rights violation (as April 09, 2021)

§      Ethiopia targeting Tigray with ‘starvation crimes’ as military tactic: report

• Famine is looming in Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region as military operations specifically target food systems with systematic looting and pillaging of food and farms forming part of efforts to use hunger as a weapon of war, according to a new report published on Tuesday.
• “The sole reason for the scale of the humanitarian emergency is that the coalition of Ethiopian Federal forces, Amhara regional forces, and Eritrean troops are committing starvation crimes on large scale,” says the report by the World Peace Foundation, an organisation based at Tufts University.
• The 58-page reportdraws on eye witness accounts, media reports, work by human rights organisations, assessments by the UN as well as open source investigation using satellite imagery to describe how Tigray has been plunged into a humanitarian crisis.
• https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20210406-ethiopia-targeting-tigray-with-starvation-crimes-as-military-tactic-report?fbclid=IwAR1iOzp3A0BYHaC-LTgCevYxjUvY2CnOVQAEO5f3B5rtjWhFMEHeFuy5Apo
• Financial Times (FT) spoke to a 19-year-old student who was raped by four Eritrean soldiers and says she remembered running to a forest to escape fighting in her home town in the Tigray region.
• FT report states when she regained consciousness, she was in the forest and her blood was pouring out of her nose and genitals.
• The survivor says that she does not feel Ethiopian anymore, as the federal government would not let Tigrayans be raped by soldiers if they were citizens. She is not the only one to voice such sentiments.
• FT report said anger is evident in the streets of Mekelle. “We all want an independent Tigray now more than ever. We don’t want to be occupied either by Ethiopia nor Eritrea,” said Meseret Yitbarek.
• Medical Director of Ayder Referral Hospital, Kibrom G/selassie told FT that the situation in Tigray is highly polarised, which is a catalyst for violence. He described rape of Tigrayans as a weapon of war

2. Video showing killings of civilians in Tigray by soldiers went viral on social media

• Both the BBC and CNN have analysed videos that appeared on social media of soldiers rounding up and discussing the execution of young men near what they believe is Mahibere Degro, Central Tigray.
• In the video, soldiers wearing Ethiopian uniforms shot the men in the head and subsequently pushed them over a cliff.
• The soldiers are heard discussing the execution and the need to save up bullets. They also say that they have to make sure that they are all dead.
• CNN has also spoken to a man that says he was present and managed to escape. According to the person interviewed, his 23 year old brother was among the men in the group.
• The video is attached to this email

 

3. Reports on health care (focusing on ethnic minorities)

• SNNP and Sidama Regions reported cases of cholera
• At least 34 cholera cases were reported during the last three weeks in South Bench Woreda of Bench Sheko Zone (SNNPR). Similarly, at least 15 new cases were reported in Dawuro Zone (Keche Woreda (11), Kercha Town (3) and Kercha Woreda (1)), bringing the total cholera cases to 697.
• Nineteen new cholera cases were also reported from Uba Debretsehaye Woreda of Gofa Zone during the same period, bringing the total active caseload to 39 in just two weeks time.
• In Surma Woreda of West Omo Zone, the total cases of Cholera had reached 846, including 33 deaths, although no new cases were registered during this reporting period [9 – 15 March] in West Omo Zone of SNNPR as well as in Sidama Region.
• The cholera outbreak in SNNPR was fully controlled six months ago, before its recent reemergence.
• https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/humanitarian_bulletin_15_-28_march_2021.pdf

4. The need of humanitarian assistance in Somali region, Ethiopia

§      More than two million people in Somali region affected by drought, require assistance: United Nations

• Some 2.1 million people across 74 Woredas in Somali Region require humanitarian assistance as a result of drought, according to the Regional Disaster Risk Management Bureau (DRMB), the UNOCHA said.
• Dawa, Liban, Afdher and Shabelle are the most affected Zones followed by Sitiand Jarar Zones. Traditional water sources have dried and there are limited functional water schemes/boreholes in the affected areas
• https://addisstandard.com/news-more-than-two-million-people-in-somali-region-affected-by-drought-require-assistance-un/
• https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/humanitarian_bulletin_15_-28_march_2021.pdf

The federal government of Ethiopia should allow an international team to conduct investigations into the alleged human rights violations in Tigray including rape, extra-judicial killings, Gender-Based Violence and looting among others. 

Compiled by Ararso based in Addis Ababa

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