The rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) blocked a bus and kidnapped 10 students on board who were heading to Dembi Dolo University in western Ethiopia, witnesses have claimed.
The students, all ethnic Amharas, were kidnapped last Friday at a place called Gulisso.
The students were identified as third-year to five-year students in the university that is located in the Oromia region.
A total of 10 students – six females and four males were seized after they were ordered out of a bus named ‘Oda’.
First the OLF militants ordered all the students on board to get off the bus.
Then, they divided them according to their ethnicity as Oromo, Amhara and students who came from the Southern region of Ethiopia.
Those students, who speak Afaan Oromo language, were permitted to go onto the bus.
Then, those students who come from the Southern region were allowed back to the bus after they displayed their IDs.
Then, OLF militants kidnapped the ethnic Amhara students and took them into a nearby jungle by force.
Two of the abducted students were from Debremarkos city, two students from Gonder, two students from Merhawi town and other parts of Gojam, one student from Debereberhan city, one from South Wello and another from Addis Ababa.
Four years ago, the OLF militants had kidnapped a total of 17 students – 13 females and four males at a place called Sudi near Gambella city,about 100km (60 miles) from Dembi Dolo.
The whereabouts of the students, all of them ethnic Amharas, are still not known.
MG/as/APA