Military forces deployed throughout Addis Ababa and its vicinity to contain violence
Eskinder Nega and Sintayehu Chekol from the Balderas movement, a critic of both the Abiy Ahmed's government and Oromo nationalists, were also arrested for "attempting to incite violence"
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[2][3][4] 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.[1] 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.[5][6]
Hachalu Hundessa was a popular singer whose politically tinged songs were popular during the 2015 and 2016 Ethiopian protests and made him "a political symbol of the Oromo people's aspirations and catapulted Abiy Ahmed to power."[7][8] He was shot on the evening of 29 June 2020 in the Gelan Condominiums area in Addis Ababa.[7] He was taken to Tirunesh Beijing General Hospital, a government hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he died from his injuries.[9] Thousands of his fans headed to the hospital in the city where his body was taken on Monday night. In Addis Ababa, police used tear gas to disperse the crowd outside the hospital, and gunshots were heard in the city where people set fire to tires. Hachalu's body was taken to his hometown, Ambo, about 100km west of the capital, but protesters tried to stop this and insisted that he should be buried in Addis Ababa. Police are investigating his death.[7] Referring to a statue in Addis Ababa of Menelik II, Hachalu told Oromia Media Network (OMN) said that people should remember that all the horses seen mounted by old rulers leaders belonged to the people.[10] The singer had said that he had received death threats, but it is not clear who was behind his shooting on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. Hachalu's songs often focused on the rights of the country's Oromo ethnic group and became anthems in a wave of protests that led to the downfall of the previous prime minister in 2018.[7]
Events
The killing of Hachalu Hundessa, an Oromo musician and civil rights activist on 29 June 2020, sent shock waves of anger, resentment, and frustration throughout Ethiopia. Following his death, protesters took to the streets in the Oromia region and the capital Addis Ababa on 30 June 2020 to express their grievance and to demand justice for the death of Hachalu.[11]
Oromo activists have drawn parallels with the George Floyd protests in the United States, although critics argued such claims were flawed and served as an alibi for ethnically motivated violence.[original research?] On 30 June, groups of youths roamed through neighborhoods in Addis Ababa, and public buildings and private businesses were destroyed and businesses looted. That same day, three explosions occurred in Addis Ababa, killing both some of the perpetrators and bystanders.[12] Seven civilians and three police officers were killed, "either beaten with rocks, or shot, or [in] a series of bombings."[12] At demonstrations in Adama, nine protesters were killed[13] and another 75 were injured.
In Ambo, Hachalu's hometown, three policemen and 78 civilians were killed in the "mayhem" surrounding his funeral, including one of Hachalu's uncles.[14] At least nine of the civilians were killed by security forces.[15]
In Shashamane, violence was particularly widespread, with "up to 150" people killed there alone, according to the regional deputy police commissioner, Girma Gelan.[16] Eye-witness reports claimed that "all but 4 or 5 buildings" in the town center had been torched, and that the Rastafari community had been targeted due to its association with the Emperor Haile Selassie.[17] Witnesses who spoke with Voice of America described how shopping centres, restaurants, residences, and hotels owned by "outsiders" were attacked, including one owned by celebrated runner Haile Gebrselassie.[16][19] Victims described the violence as targeted; according to Yohannes Wolde, the headmaster of a large private school, the Dinkinesh Education Center, rioters burned down three separate campuses of the school in different parts of the town, as well as his private residence, which was the only house in the area (having already fled with his family) to be attacked. Temam Hussein, mayor of Shashamane, said that while protests had initially been peaceful, "Some [people] had an agenda to divert it into ethnic conflict and looting."[16] During the Shashamane massacre,[2] mostly Amharas,[3]Gurages, Jamaicans (especially Rastafarians),[20] and other civilians were attacked.[21][4] Two people were shot to death in Chiro, while protesters in Harar toppled a statue of RasMakonnen Wolde Mikael. In Adama, demonstrators set fire to the mayor's office and tried to take over the headquarters of the regional state broadcaster.[15] Violence was also severe in Bale Robe, Ziway, and Negele Arsi. In Ziway, Amharic speakers were labelled as "neftenya" (Amharic: ነፍጠኛ, lit. "rifle-bearer", connoting a settler) and were targeted for assaults, according to multiple witnesses.[22][23][11]
Interfaith tensions add another layer of complexity. Some Oromo nationalists portray the Orthodox Christian church as part of the predominantly Amhara power structure under the old imperial regime, which they accuse of suppressing their identities and culture for centuries. During October 2019 Ethiopian clashes, Orthodox Christian leaders reported mobs targeting their congregants and churches, while demonstrators also attacked a mosque in Adama, in central Oromia. Indeed, the targeting of Orthodox churches as a symbol of the old establishment is a problem not limited to Oromia; protesters attacked churches in the Somali Region in August 2018 and in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region in July 2019. Prime MinisterAbiy Ahmed established civil society groups such as the Inter-Religious Council and elders from the various ethnic groups to stimulate dialogue among elites and the grassroots. Following these efforts, community members among the Ethiopian diaspora community were calling for tolerance and coexistence among followers of the two major religions in Ethiopia. Amhara–Oromo fighting at several universities has sharpened tensions. Mounting religious tensions risk edging a political dispute over Amhara–Oromo federal power-sharing into a sectarian contest. Similarly, violence between Amhara security forces and militia comprising Qemant people left tens dead. The Qemant are a minority in Amhara pursuing greater autonomy. TPLF leaders are also angry at the displacement of around 100,000 Tigrayans, mostly from Amhara and Oromia regions, during and after the 2015–2018 anti-government protests. Since Abiy's rise to power, trends in Amhara are as troubling as those in Oromia and recent mass unrest occurred when Amhara nationalist militias attempted coup d'état.[24] The Oromo have themselves long faced marginalisation and exclusion at the hands of the central government; in this instance, those targeted have largely comprised members of other ethnic groups that constitute minorities in the Oromia region.[25]
Response
At 9 a.m., 30 June 2020, the internet was cut across much of Ethiopia, a measure found by telecoms watchdog NetBlocks to be consistent with previous national internet shutdowns imposed by the government during unrest.[26][27][28]Prime MinisterAbiy Ahmed expressed his condolences to Hundessa's family, saying that Hachalu's assassins intended not to kill him alone but "through him to kill Ethiopia", while also urging calm amid growing unrest.[7][15] Media owner and activist Jawar Mohammed responded to Hundessa's death on Facebook, saying "They did not just kill Hachalu. They shot at the heart of the Oromo Nation, once again!!...You can kill us, all of us, you can never ever stop us!! NEVER!!" Ethiopians on social media, including the country's ambassador to Washington, expressed their shock at the killing of the popular musician.[29] On Oromia Media Network (OMN), a caller said “Oromo should be organized, do not sit home do nothing and anyone against Oromo should take measure”. Members of Amhara ethnic groups accused media outlets of actively instigating the attacks live and instructing the attackers and broadcast a series of inflammatory hate-filled messages, including calls to lock and burn the homes of Amhara people but with no supporting evidence.[25]
On 30 June 2020, Jawar Mohammed and Bekele Gerba were arrested by Ethiopian Federal police after an incident between Jawar's guards and police that resulted in the death of a police officer.[30] The incident happened when Jawar and his guards intercepted the transportation of the remains of Hachalu Hundessa to his home town of Ambo, which lies 100km west of Addis Ababa. Jawar wanted to have the funeral in Addis Ababa, while Hachalu's parents and wife wanted to have the burial in Ambo.[31] The government claimed that the intention was to have Hundessa's funeral in Addis Ababa so that angry Oromo youths that would come to the city would destroy statues and monuments in the city, a move that would have put them on a collision course with the city residents. The plan was to use the ensuing violence in discrediting and overthrowing the government of Abiy Ahmed. Thirty-five people, including Jawar, were apprehended, along with eight Kalashnikovs, five pistols, and nine radio transmitters from his bodyguards.[31] Subsequently, former journalist-turned-politician Eskinder Nega and Sintayehu Chekol from the Balderas movement, a critic of both the government and Oromo ethno-nationalists, were also arrested for "attempting to incite violence."[32][33]
As of 5 July, police have arrested at least four people in direct connection with Hachalu's death. Abiy reportedly suggested that Egypt may be behind the unrest, saying "those external and internal forces who were not successful with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam issue have tried their utmost efforts to create chaos at this time".[15] An Egyptian diplomat responded by saying that Egypt "has nothing to do with current tensions in Ethiopia."[34]Ian Bremmer wrote in a Time magazine article that Prime Minister Abiy "may just be looking for a scapegoat that can unite Ethiopians against a perceived common enemy."[35]
While some have welcomed the government's move as a "firm response" to restore order and provide accountability, others have warned that a crackdown, in light of delayed elections, would "exacerbate underlying tensions, and put [Ethiopia's] nascent democracy into danger."[36]
Some Oromo activists and ethnic nationalists have drawn parallels between the Hachalu Hundessa riots in Ethiopia with the George Floyd protests in the United States, although critics argued such claims were flawed and served as an alibi for ethnically motivated violence, especially as a justification for pogrommassacres in Ethiopia, including the Shashamane massacre. [43][44]
The EHRC report counted 123 people killed during 30 June to 2 July 2020 in the 40 locations investigated, and 500 injured. Among the 123 lethal victims, 76 deaths were caused by security forces, 35 by individuals and groups participating in the events, and 12 died from violent events such as bombs or fire.[6]
The EHRC found that the deliberate attacks against civilians constituted a crime against humanity, arguing that the necessary legal elements were present:[6]
a large number of organised people moved around with the intention of killing, injuring and displacing people and destroying property;
the actions were widespread and systematic attacks against civilians;
some of the targets were selected based on ethnic and religious identity;
the perpetrators were aware of the actions as part of a systematic attack against civilians;
online social media and television content and slogans chanted by perpetrators showed deliberate intent by the perpetrators.
The EHRC reported successful limitation of the attacks by security forces in some areas, and failures by the security forces to respond to victims' repeated calls for help in other places. Some medical staff refused to treat survivors of the attacks. Some of the use of lethal force by security forces was "highly questionable", leading to the deaths of passersby uninvolved in the protests and mediators. The EHRC stated that it was unaware of investigations and judicial procedures in relation to the security forces' actions.[6]
In its report, the EHRC called on regional and federal authorities to carry out investigations and judicial procedures and to develop institutions for long-term solutions for discrimination and attacks on minorities.[6]
The 2014–2016 Oromo protests were a series of protests and resistance first sparked on 25 April 2014. The initial actions were taken in opposition to the Addis Ababa Master Plan, and resumed on 12 November 2015 by university students and farmers in the town of Ginchi, located 80 km southwest of Addis Ababa, encircled by the Oromia region. The plan was to expand the capital into the Oromia special zone, leading to fears that native Oromo farmers would lose their land and be displaced. The plan was later dropped but protests continued, highlighting issues such as marginalization and human rights. Mulatu Gemechu, deputy chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, expressed to Reuters: "so far, we have compiled a list of 33 protesters killed by armed security forces that included police and soldiers but I am very sure the list will grow". Protesters demanded social and political reforms, including an end to human rights abuses like government killings of civilians, mass arrests, government land seizures, and political marginalization of opposition groups. The government responded by restricting access to the internet and attacking as well as arresting protesters.
Abiy Ahmed Ali is an Ethiopian politician who is the current Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2008 and the leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is a member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.
The Oromia Broadcasting Network (OBN) is an Ethiopian public service broadcaster headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is the leading media organization in Oromia and broadcasts on Eutelsat via the Ethiosat platform.
Jawar Mohammed is an Ethiopian political analyst and activist. One of the founders of the Oromia Media Network (OMN), Jawar was a leading organizer of the 2014–2016 Oromo protests. He has been credited with toppling the incumbent government in February 2018 and bringing Abiy Ahmed to power.
Events of 2019 in Ethiopia.
The 2021 Ethiopian general election to elect members of the House of Peoples' Representatives was held on 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021. Regional elections were also held on those dates.
The Burayu massacre was a series of communal clashes which occurred in the vicinity of the Ethiopian town of Burayu, in the Oromia Region, on 14–16 September 2018. Individuals from the Oromo and Dorze ethnicities fought in and around Burayu, a town in Oromia Region which is located near the northwest boundary of Addis Ababa, the federal capital. Different sources cite number of civilians killed both from Oromo and non-Oromo ethnicity.
A October 2019 Ethiopian clashes was a civil unrest that broke out in Addis Ababa, on 23 October 2019 and swiftly spread to entire Oromia Region after activist and Director of Oromia Media Network, Jawar Mohammed reported on his Facebook page around midnight, on Tuesday. In his post, Jawar has said that his house was surrounded by police officers and that they tried to withdraw his security guards from their posts. His VIP security detail was assigned to him by the government once he arrived from the US. According to official reports, 86 people were killed, 76 were killed by Communal violence, while 10 were security forces of Ethiopia.
Hachalu Hundessa was an Ethiopian singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Hachalu played a significant role in the 2014–2016 Oromo protests that led to Abiy Ahmed taking charge of the Oromo Democratic Party and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, and subsequently becoming prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018.
Music and politics have been closely intertwined throughout the history of Ethiopia.
On 2 November 2020, allegedly a group of up to 60 gunmen attacked a schoolyard in the village of Gawa Qanqa in the Guliso District of West Welega Zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, killing 32-54 people. The state-run Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said the attack had targeted people of the Amhara ethnic group. 200 people were gathered by an armed group for a meeting and then were shot at by the armed group. Soldiers had reportedly left the area hours before the attack. The Oromia Regional Government blamed the Oromo Liberation Army for the attack, who denied responsibility. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed denounced the attack and promised a thorough investigation. Ethnic violence has increased since he took office.
Awol Kasim Allo is an Ethiopian academic, author and lecturer who started teaching law at University of Keele in 2016.
The Benishangul-Gumuz conflict was an armed conflict mostly in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in Ethiopia that started in 2019, until peace agreement signed between the rebel groups and the government of Ethiopia in October 2022.
The ongoing Ethiopian civil conflict began with the 2018 dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (ERPDF), an ethnic federalist, dominant party political coalition. After the 20-year border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a decade of internal tensions, two years of protests, and a state of emergency, Hailemariam Desalegn resigned on 15 February 2018 as prime minister and EPRDF chairman, and there were hopes of peace under his successor Abiy Ahmed. However, war broke out in the Tigray Region, with resurgent regional and ethnic factional attacks throughout Ethiopia. The civil wars caused substantial human rights violations, war crimes, and extrajudicial killings.
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 government, 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.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
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.
Events in the year 2023 in Ethiopia.
The Gida Kiremu massacres refers to a series of attacks between 18 and 20 August 2021 when the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) targeted Amhara civilians in Gida Kiremu, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, killing over 210. The attack on 18 August killed 150 Amhara civilians, and reprisal attacks by Amhara militias killed 60 mostly-Oromo civilians the day after.
↑ In its literal meaning, neftegna means “gun bearer.” It refers to military occupiers who settled in Southern Ethiopia, including today's Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region, Gambela Region, and Benishangul-Gumuz Region from the late 19th century onwards. This was a historical development that came to an end in 1974 with the fall of Emperor Haile Sellasie’s monarchy and the rise to power of the Dergue communist regime. However, Neftengna is a name often related to the ethnic Amhara, the second most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia.
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