More than 100 civilians have been killed in the Umuru district of Horo Guduru zone in the Oromo region of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has said.
“The civilians have been killed since August 31, 2022,” said the human rights group on Wednesday in a report, linking the killing to OLF-Shane rebel force which is engaged in targeted killings on ethnic Amhara people in Oromia region.
Private properties including cattle were plundered too and several thousand were displaced from the area to find themselves without any essential emergency aid and in a difficult circumstance.
It also recalled its report from September 6 this year, in the aftermath of the massacre of civilians, in which it called for government authorities about continuing security threats for civilians in the region.
EHRC asserted the measures the Federal and regional authorities are taking to reverse ethnic-based attacks in the region are not a match for the magnitude of the security problem in the area.
Daniel Bekele, the Director, called for authorities to consider enhancing security measures to the level that is needed to tackle the problem. He said authorities should discharge their responsibility of protecting the security of citizens.
Earlier this week, the government admitted that the radical ethnic Oromo nationalist group killed civilians in the Horo Guduru area. It did not, however, specify the number of deaths from the attack and those who were wounded.
However, it has been claimed that it has killed one of the leaders of the rebel groups whom it identified as Jal Urji. Abiy Ahmed’s administration claimed that the latest attack on civilians in the region is meant to be a retaliatory action over the killing of the leader – among other factors.
The rebel group operating in the area, which calls itself the Oromo Liberation Army, has announced that it has formed a military alliance with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
There has been a recurring massacre of ethnic Amhara farming communities in the Horo Guduru area. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the Oromo region in the past four or so years.
MG/abj/APA