The Gambela Region, officially the Gambela Peoples' Region, is a regional state in western Ethiopia, bordering South Sudan. Previously known as Region 12, its capital is Gambela. The Region is situated between the Baro and Akobo Rivers, with its western part including the Baro River.
Gambella, also spelled Gambella, is a city and separate woreda in Ethiopia and the capital of the Gambela Region. Located in Anyuak Zone, at the confluence of the Baro River and its tributary the Jajjabe, the city has a latitude and longitude of 8°15′N34°35′E and an elevation of 526 meters. It is surrounded by Gambella Zuria.
The Anyuak, also known as Anyuaa and Anywaa, are a Luo Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting parts of East Africa. The Anuak belong to the larger Luo family group. Their language is referred to as Dha-Anywaa. They primarily reside in the Gambela Region of western Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Group members number between 200,000 and 300,000 people worldwide. Many of the Anyuak people now follow Christianity. It is one of the first of the Nilotic groups to become almost entirely Christian, following the Shilluk people.
The Gambela Peoples’ Democratic Movement, also known as the Gambela People’s Democratic Movement or Gambella Peoples’ Unity Democratic Movement, was a political party in the Gambela Region of Ethiopia. It is the regional ally of the ruling EPRDF coalition.
Itang is a woreda in Gambela Region, Ethiopia. Because Itang is not part of any zone in the Gambela Region, it is considered a Special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area. It is bordered on the south and southeast by the Anuak Zone, on the west by the Nuer Zone, on the northwest by South Sudan, and on the north by the Oromia Region; part of the southern boundary is defined by the Alwero River. The major town in Itang is Itang.
The Gambela conflict refers to sporadic conflicts in the Gambela Region of Ethiopia between armed groups of the indigenous Anuak people with armed groups of the Nuer people, and the Ethiopian military. Following resettlement policies implemented by the Derg regime in the 1980s, a number of ethnic conflicts have taken place between the Anuak people indigenous to much of the Gambela region, and other groups which were resettled in the region. Following the collapse of the Derg regime, persistent ethnic tensions in the region have occasionally exploded into open conflict. Such conflict erupted in the early to mid 2000s, coinciding with an increase in petroleum extraction in the region, and led to a number of incidents resulting in the large-scale deaths of civilians. The Ethiopian military has intervened to combat Anuak militias.
The Gambela People's Liberation Movement was a rebel group in the Gambela Region in Ethiopia. The GPLM was founded by Anuak dissidents during the Derg and Woyane regime. The organization remained dominated by Anuaks. Agwa Alemu was the chairman of the GPLM.
The Oromia–Somali clashes flared up in December 2016 following territorial disputes between Oromia region and Somali region's Government in Ethiopia. Hundreds of people were killed and more than 1.5 million people fled their homes. The conflict ended in 2018.
The Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front is a political party and militant rebel organization that waged an insurgency against the Ethiopian government from 1993 to 2012. Formed by ex-officials of the Derg regime, the EUPF was mostly active in Ethiopia's Gambela Region as well as eastern Sudan and South Sudan. The group agreed to a ceasefire with the Ethiopian government in 2012, and officially ended its insurgency in 2016. The EUPF remains active, however, and its armed wing has reportedly been involved in the South Sudanese Civil War, although to what extent is disputed.
The Hachalu Hundessa riots were a series of civil unrest that occurred in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, more specifically in the hot spot of Addis Ababa, Shashamene and Ambo following the killing of the Oromo musician Hachalu Hundessa on 29 June 2020. The riots lead to the deaths of at least 239 people according to initial police reports. Peaceful protests against Hachalu's killing have been held by Oromos abroad as well. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found in its 1 January 2021 full report that part of the killings were a crime against humanity, with deliberate, widespread systematic killing of civilians by organised groups. The EHRC counted 123 deaths, 76 of which it attributed to security forces.
Fano is an ethno-nationalist Amhara youth militia and former protest movement. Fano first emerged in the 2010s and during the 2016-2018 state of emergency as a protest movement against the former Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government. Although Fano is hailed for being instrumental in bringing about the fall of the EPRDF through both non-violent and violent struggles, their current status and organizational structure are unclear. The territorial integrity of the ethnic Amhara "homeland" has been a key issue for Fano. Protests led by Fano in 2017-2018 were often centered around the issue of Western Tigray and the ethnic Amhara who lived there. As the purported "protectors" of Amhara society, the Fano have engaged in violent conflicts throughout the state in the name of neutralizing perceived threats to the Amhara people and, by extension, Amhara nationalism. Fano has become aligned with –and, in many instances, absorbed — the Amhara Regional Special Forces. Fano militias are primarily involved in armed clashes with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF). They have also clashed with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) at the border of Ethiopia and Sudan.
The Metekel massacre was a massacre that took place on the night of 22–23 December 2020, in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia. As of 23 December 2020, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission counted 100 deaths. Authorities responded by killing 42 suspects and arresting seven officials.
Following the 2018 dissolution of the ethnic federalist, dominant party political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, there was an increase in tensions within the country, with newly resurgent regional and ethnically based factions carrying out armed attacks on military and civilians in multiple conflicts throughout Ethiopia.
The OLA insurgency is an armed conflict between the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which split from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in 2018, and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), continuing in the context of the long-term Oromo conflict, typically dated to have started with the formation of the Oromo Liberation Front in 1973.
Since the 1990s, the Amhara people of Ethiopia have been subject to ethnic violence, including massacres by Tigrayan, Oromo and Gumuz ethnic groups among others, which some have characterized as a genocide. Large-scale killings and grave human rights violations followed the implementation of the ethnic-federalist system in the country. In most of the cases, the mass murders were silent with perpetrators from various ethno-militant groups— from TPLF/TDF, OLF–OLA, and Gumuz armed groups.
On 18 June 2022, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was accused of massacring over 500 Amhara civilians in the Gimbi county of Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Witnesses said that the OLA intentionally targeted ethnic Amhara people. This attack is part of a series of Amhara massacres that occurred in 2022.
This is chronology of Gambela city, the capital of Gambela Region of Ethiopia.
Events in the year 2023 in Ethiopia.
The 2022 North Shewaclashes were a seires of clashes that broke out between ethnic Amhara Fano militiamen, the Oromo Liberation Army, and the Ethiopian National Defence Forces in North Shewa zone of Oromia and the Oromia Zone of the Amhara region, which resulted in dozens of people killed and thousands displaced.
, Ethiopia