Ethiopia Attack: Dozens ‘Rounded Up And Killed’ In Oromia

Gunmen have killed at least 32 people and set fire to homes in a “horrendous” attack in western Ethiopia, officials say. Local authorities said the rebel Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was to blame for the attack in Oromia state.

Residents said dozens were rounded up and killed and livestock was stolen in the attack which lasted several hours. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who spoke on Monday said Sunday’s attack in the Guliso district, in the Oromia region, may have been identity-based.

Ethnic violence has increased since Mr. Abiy took office in April 2018, loosening controls in what had been a highly centralized state.

Survivors counted 54 bodies in a school compound where the militants, who identified as OLA members, gathered people who did not manage to flee, mainly women, children, and the elderly, and killed them, rights group Amnesty International said in a statement.

A survivor told correspondents that security forces stationed in the area left and the OLA then rounded up civilians.

‘After collecting us, they opened fire on us, and then afterward looted cattle and burnt down houses,’ they said.

The OLA is an armed group that has been blamed for kidnappings and bomb attacks in western and southern Ethiopia. The OLA broke off from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) – an opposition party that spent years in exile and returned to the country after Mr. Abiy took office in 2018.

A local official told the BBC a team had been sent to Guliso district to investigate, pointing out that the death toll could be “higher than reported”.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said up to 60 ‘armed and unarmed assailants’ were involved in the attack, which was carried out on Sunday.

It said members of the Amhara ethnic group, the country’s second-largest ethnic group, were targeted. The Amhara branch of the ruling Prosperity Party also released a statement supporting the EHRC’s report.

Mr. Abiy said that ‘measures have started to be taken against the attackers‘. However, he declined to further comment on what measures he was referring to.

The head of the African Union Moussa Faki condemned the violence and urged Ethiopians to refrain ‘from inflammatory rhetoric and work towards de-escalating tensions in the country’.