In Ethiopia, dozens were killed in an attack in the west of the country last night. According to Amnesty International 54 Amhars, an ethnic minority, were killed. Dozens of houses have also been set on fire and hundreds of people have been displaced.
Yesterday the local authorities spoke of at least thirty dead, but today more bodies of victims were found in a schoolyard. The attack took place on Sunday.
According to local authorities, the armed group OLF Shane is behind the mass murder. This is a split-off from the banned opposition party OLF, which has fought for the rights and independence of the Oromo people, the largest people in the country, since the 1970s.
Ethiopian army withdrew
It is unclear why the Amhars were attacked. According to Amnesty, ethnic minorities have been targeted more often in recent months for no direct reason. The NGO calls on the Ethiopian government to investigate this weekend’s attack, because the Ethiopian army suddenly recalled troops from the region a few days earlier.
The Addis Ababa government has labeled the attack as terrorism. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who last year won the Nobel Peace Prize for his commitment to peace in the region, calls the massacre heartbreaking. He announced that additional troops would be stationed in the region again.
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