NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 75 people and injured nearly 200 during deadly ethnic unrest in June and July following the killing of a popular singer, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Friday.
According to the commission’s report, 123 people were killed and at least 500 injured amid one of the country’s worst outbreaks of ethnic violence in years, a “widespread and systematic attack” on civilians indicating crimes against humanity. Some victims were beheaded, tortured or dragged into the streets by assailants.
Ethnic violence is a major challenge for Nobel Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has encouraged national unity among more than 80 ethnic groups in the second most populous country in Africa.
The unrest in June and July follows the assassination of singer Hachalu Hundessa, who was a prominent voice in the protests against the government that led to Abiy taking office in 2018 and announcing comprehensive political reforms. However, these reforms paved the way for protracted ethnic and other grievances.
The commission found that in the midst of the street protests after Hachalu’s death, “civilians within individual and grouped offenders were attacked in their homes and brutally and brutally beaten in the streets and killed with sticks, knives, axes, sharp iron rods, stones and electrical cables. ”
More than 6,000 people have been displaced and at least 900 properties looted, burned or vandalized, the report said. The attacks were often aimed at ethnic Amhara or Orthodox Christians.
“While it is understandable that security forces have had the challenging task of restoring order in the face of such widespread violence, the proportionality of power used in some contexts is highly questionable,” the report said.
As an example, in several communities, “the commission found that people were killed with bullet wounds to the head, shots to the chest or back. People who did not take part in the protests – passers-by, bystanders watching in front of their door, young people, elderly people trying to mediate, people with mental illnesses and even police officers – also lost their lives. ”
In other cases, the commission found that ‘local authorities and security do not respond to repeated calls for victims, but that’ higher calls do not instruct them to intervene ‘… Survivors and witnesses also tell how the police sometimes stand And look at how the attacks took place. ”
Some watchdogs have warned of a return to repressive measures in Ethiopia as authorities grapple with hate speech and ethnic violence.
The unrest is not related to the conflict in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia that began in early November, but it was another sign of the tension that plagued the country of about 110 million people in the heart of the Horn of Africa. obstruct.
A spokesman for Abiy’s office did not immediately comment on the report, and the commission did not say what the government’s response was. Interviews with government officials and security figures were part of the commission’s investigation, which also involved visits to about 40 communities.
The commission said there was no indication of “ongoing efforts to investigate the use of force by security officials during the riots and to account for those who caused unnecessary human suffering.”
The report noted that ‘crimes against humanity of this nature, together with the current national context, are signs that the risk of atrocities, including genocide, is increasing’, and calls for investigations, justice and ‘a lasting and institutional solution’. for the increasing tendency towards discrimination and attacks on minorities. ”