Gimbi massacre

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Gimbi massacre
Part of the Oromo conflict
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Gimbi massacre (Ethiopia)
Location Tole, Gimbi, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
Coordinates 9°03′59″N36°06′03″E / 9.066269824024126°N 36.100787072783426°E / 9.066269824024126; 36.100787072783426
Date18 June 2022 (2022-06-18)
Deaths554+ (per witnesses) [1]
Victims Amhara civilians
Perpetrators Oromo Liberation Army (denied by OLA)

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. [2] [3] This attack is part of a series of Amhara massacres that occurred in 2022.

Contents

A witness told the Associated Press he had counted at least 230 bodies and said he was "afraid this is the deadliest attack against civilians we have seen in our lifetime" and that mass graves were being dug for victims. [4] [5] One resident told reporters that the death toll surpassed 260 people, while others placed it higher at 320. [6] [7]

The government blamed rebels, and witnesses accused the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) for carrying out the attack in Tole and surroundings, but the OLA denied that their troops were present, and put the blame on the government forces. [8] [9] The Government of Oromia however confirmed that an attack had occurred. [10] The government was accused of not eliminating threats as OLF due to involvement in scheme. [11]

Background

In the 1990s, the TPLF, a predominantly Tigrayan militia, overthrew the Ethiopian government and held power until 2018, when ethnic Oromo Abiy Ahmed won the election. Tensions between the TPLF, now a political party in the Tigray region, and Ahmed's government grew until it reached a boiling point in late 2020 that began the Tigray War. Since then, both the Ethiopian government and TPLF have been accused of war crimes in the Tigray region, with spillovers in the Amhara Region and Oromia. [12]

The TPLF went on an offensive in summer 2021, allying with the ethnocentrist Oromo Liberation Front against the Ethiopian government. This heavily increased the OLA's participation in the war, and the OLA has been accused of persecuting ethnic Amhara in the Oromia region. [13]

Massacre

Around June 17, residents said that security forces in Tole left the area without explanation. [14] On the morning of June 18, the OLA, allegedly aided by ethnic Oromo in the area, sought out ethnic Amhara in ten villages across Gimbi woreda in Western Oromia. The perpetrators predominantly used machine guns to kill their victims, but machetes, mass executions, and immolation were also used. 55 people were executed in a village outside the village of Chefie, and two massacres took place in the village of Silsaw; 14 women and children were killed in a vacant home in the town, and over 48 people were killed in the town's mosque. Similarly, 13 Amhara were charred in the villages of Gutin Sefer and Silsaw. [15]

Looting also occurred in the aftermath of the massacre, with one witness stating "everything was damaged." [16]

The Gimbi massacre is the deadliest massacre in the West Welega Zone of Ethiopia in recent years, and was harshly criticized by the Ethiopian government.

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the perpetrators spoke Oromo and some had a distinctive hairstyle common among OLA fighters. They said the attackers wore a mix of civilian clothes and uniforms worn by the Oromia regional special forces and local militias as well as outdated Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) uniforms. Government security forces arrived in the area after the perpetrators had left despite multiple calls for assistance. The massacre took place over the span of eight hours. [14]

Satellite imagery confirmed the burning of at least 5 villages and 480 civilian structures. [14]

Reaction

Foreign governments

US

The spokesperson for the US State Department, Ned Price, issued a statement on the victims of the attack and urged peaceful solutions and accountability on human rights. The Embassy of United States to FDRE reiterated the message which the State Department's spokesperson issued. [17] [18] The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, also issued a separate messaging condemning the attacks on civilians and urging a peaceful solution. She said "We continue to call for all Ethiopians to choose peace, not violence. And we continue to call for comprehensive, inclusive justice for victims and accountability for those who have carried out human rights abuses and violations." [19]

Iran

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the attack calling it a "terrorist" attack by armed insurgent groups. [20]

Ethiopia

The Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed condemned the attacks on innocent civilians calling it "unacceptable." [21] Two days after the attack famous Ethiopian singer Teddy Afro released a song "Na'at" ("unleavened bread") which reflects "the dark time of Ethiopia". [22] [23] According to HRW, as of 31 August 2022 the government had failed to provide adequate shelter, food, medical care, and security for the affected communities. Residents said little had been done to investigate the massacre and bring perpetrators to justice. [14]

United Nations

The Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres condemned the massacre stating, "The secretary-general condemns the reported killing of scores of civilians in Oromia this weekend," said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for Guterres." [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oromo Liberation Front</span> Oromo nationalist political party in Ethiopia

The Oromo Liberation Front is an Oromo nationalist political party formed in 1973 to promote self-determination for the Oromo people inhabiting today's Oromia Region and Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. The OLF has offices in Addis Ababa, Washington, D.C., and Berlin, from which it operates radio stations that broadcast in Amharic and Oromo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oromo Liberation Army</span> Armed movement in Ethiopia

The Oromo Liberation Army is an armed opposition group active in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. The OLA consist primarily of former armed members of the pre-peace deal Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) who refused to disarm out of skepticism of the peace deal, and former youth protestors who grew disillusioned with nonviolent resistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oromo conflict</span> Armed civil conflict in Ethiopia

The Oromo conflict is a protracted conflict between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ethiopian government. The Oromo Liberation Front formed to fight the Ethiopian Empire to liberate the Oromo people and establish an independent state of Oromia. The conflict began in 1973, when Oromo nationalists established the OLF and its armed wing, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). These groups formed in response to prejudice against the Oromo people during the Haile Selassie and Derg era, when their language was banned from public administration, courts, church and schools, and the stereotype of Oromo people as a hindrance to expanding Ethiopian national identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Ethiopian general election</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prosperity Party</span> Ruling political party in Ethiopia

The Prosperity Party is a political party in Ethiopia that was established on 1 December 2019 as a successor to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) by incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The merger into a countrywide party is part of Abiy's general policy of distancing the country's politics from ethnic federalism. It ran for the first time in the 2021 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hachalu Hundessa riots</span> 2020 civil unrest in Oromia Region, Ethiopia

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benishangul-Gumuz conflict</span> 2019–2022 armed conflict in Ethiopia

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.

Events in the year 2021 in Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethiopian civil conflict (2018–present)</span> Episode of intrastate conflicts during Abiy Ahmeds administration

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OLA insurgency</span> Internal conflict in Ethiopia since 2018

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TDF–OLA joint offensive</span> 2021 military campaign into Ethiopia as part of the Tigray War

The TDF–OLA joint offensive was a rebel offensive in the Tigray War and the OLA insurgency starting in late October 2021 launched by a joint rebel coalition of the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) against the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and government. The TDF and OLA took control of several towns south of the Amhara Region in the direction of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in late October and early November. Claims of war crimes included that of the TDF extrajudicially executing 100 youths in Kombolcha, according to deral authorities.

This Timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.

Events in the year 2022 in Ethiopia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persecution of Amhara people</span>

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.

The Amhara Association of America (AAA) (Amharic: የዐማራ ማህበር በአሜሪካ) is a non-profit organization based in Charlotte, North Carolina, focused on advocating for the human rights of the Amhara people in Ethiopia.

On July 4, 2022, alleged Oromo Liberation Army militants killed hundreds of civilians in Kelam Welega Zone, Oromia in Ethiopia. The massacre sparked condemnation from Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, and was the second mass killing in Oromia region after the Gimbi massacre just a week prior. Qelem is also known as Kellem.

The OLA peace process is a set of negotiations, agreements and actions to end the insurgency of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which split from its wing, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLA) and rebels against the Ethiopian federal government since 2018. The Oromia region has experienced prolong conflict and instabilities first initiated by OLF with successive Ethiopian government since 1973.

References

  1. ↑ ""It Seems Like The Whole Population Was Killed"" (PDF). Amhara Association of America. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  2. ↑ "Witnesses say more than 200 killed in Ethiopia ethnic attack". AP NEWS. 2022-06-19. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  3. ↑ "Over 200 civilians killed as rebel group, government troops clash in Ethiopia". UPI News. June 20, 2022.
  4. ↑ "More than 200 people killed in Ethiopia ethnic attack, witnesses say". PBS NewsHour. 2022-06-19. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  5. ↑ "Ethiopia: more than 200 Amhara people killed in attack blamed on rebels". the Guardian. Associated Press. 2022-06-19. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  6. ↑ "Attack in Ethiopia's Oromiya region kills at least 260". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  7. ↑ "Gimbi Ethiopia : Over 200 massacred in Oromo region". Borkena. June 19, 2022.
  8. ↑ Feleke, Bethlehem (2022-06-20). "At least 200 civilians killed in western Ethiopia, say reports and officials". CNN News. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  9. ↑ Sabes, Adam (2022-06-19). "Ethiopia ethnic attack leaves over 200 killed, witnesses say". Fox News. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  10. ↑ "More than 100 killed in Ethiopia's Oromia region: Witnesses". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-06-20.
  11. ↑ "Over 200 people dead, after attack by Oneg Shena an ethnic separatist group". The Low Ethiopian Reports. June 19, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Ethiopia's Tigray war: The short, medium and long story". BBC News. 2021-06-29. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  13. ↑ VINCENOT, Aymeric. "Ethiopia's Abiy Accuses OLA Rebels Of New 'Massacre'". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Ethiopia: Civilians in Western Oromia Left Unprotected". Human Rights Watch. 2022-08-31. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  15. ↑ "An Interim Report on the June 18th, 2022 Amhara Massacre in the Tole Kebele, Gimbi Woreda, West Wollega Zone of Ethiopia's Oromia Region by Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) militants" (PDF). Amhara Association of America. July 3, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  16. ↑ "An Interim Report on the June 18th, 2022 Amhara Massacre in the Tole Kebele, Gimbi Woreda, West Wollega Zone of Ethiopia's Oromia Region by Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) militants" (PDF). Amhara Association of America. July 3, 2022. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Civilians Killed in Ethiopia". State.gov. June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  18. ↑ "Civilians Killed in Ethiopia". et.usembassy.gov. June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield". June 21, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Iran condemns terrorist attack in Ethiopia". Mehr News. June 21, 2022.
  21. ↑ Pandey, Nikhil (June 21, 2022). "320 people killed in Ethiopian gun attack, witnesses claim". WION .
  22. ↑ "Teddy Afro released new song "Unleavened Bread" ናዕት (እያመመው ቁጥር ፪) after Gimbi Massacre in Oromia: timed?". The Low Ethiopian Reports. June 22, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2022.
  23. ↑ Solomon, Abiy (June 23, 2022). "Teddy Afro bashes government with a critical new single". Addis Zeybe. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  24. ↑ "UN chief condemns civilian massacre in Ethiopia's Oromia region". Big News Network via Xinhua. June 20, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
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