The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and witnesses said on Wednesday at least 80 people were killed on Tuesday when unknown gunmen stormed a village in western Ethiopia, in the latest series of ethnically driven massacres in the area.
The massacre in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, along the border with Sudan, is the latest challenge for the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018 and promised to unite Ethiopia but struggled to grow a wave of ethnic violence.
The attacks further threaten the stability of the second most populous country in Africa at a time when Mr. Abiy was already embroiled in a growing conflict in the northern Tigray region, where he launched a major military operation on November 4 that he said was intended to capture defiant local leaders.
According to analysts, the campaign in Tigray increased the ability of Mr. Abiy hindered clashes like the recent one in Benishangul-Gumuz because it forced him to lead soldiers from all over Ethiopia to Tigray. As a result, ethnic clashes that have been growing for months have only gotten worse.
In the latest episode, witnesses said men from the Gumuz ethnic group, armed with guns and swords, stormed into the town of Daletti early Tuesday. Photos of the aftermath of the attack, provided by local activists, showed bloodied bodies of women and children lying scattered on the ground, many of them with horrific wounds. They said many of the victims were ethnic Amharas and Agaws, who are a minority in the region.
“A group of Gumuz men came to our town and sang ‘leave our country,'” Sebsibie Ibrahim, 36, a store owner in the Metekel district, said by telephone. “They fired their guns and used swords to attack anyone they encountered – women, children, the elderly.”
In the chaos that followed, houses were burnt down and an old man beheaded outside his house, Mr. Sebsibie said. “Blood is flowing from his neck,” he said.
On December 22, Mr. Abiy time out for the campaign in Tigray to visit Benishangul-Gumuz and calm tensions in the area. But a day later, gunmen attacked a village and killed at least 100 people, according to human rights groups.
Aaron Maasho, a government-funded Ethiopian human rights commissioner who reported the killings on Wednesday, said Mr. Abiy calls for additional security forces to maintain peace in the region.
“For the umpteenth time, we are appealing to the federal and regional authorities to step up security in Metekel,” he said, referring to the Benishangul-Gumuz district where the killings took place.
Mr. Abiy’s decision to open up Ethiopian politics after coming to power in 2018, releasing political prisoners and returning exiles received great praise. But it also sparked provocative ethnic tensions.
Benishangul-Gumuz, for example, is home to five major ethnic groups, mostly from the population of Berta and Gumuz. But the region also houses minorities Amharas, Oromos, Tigrayans and Agaws – a source of increasing tension.
Billene Seyoum, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Abiy, did not respond to questions about the violence.
Dessalegn Chanie, an opposition politician from Amhara, said there had been signs in recent days that armed men from the Oromo and Gumuz ethnic groups were preparing an attack, especially in areas where there was little federal security present.
“These attacks were pre-planned and very prepared,” he said.
Although Mr. Abiy last month declared victory in Tigray, United Nations officials say the fighting continues.
Ethiopia on Wednesday said its army had killed three senior members of Tigray’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, including Seyoum Mesfin, a former Ethiopian foreign minister.