Vision Ethiopia
November 1, 2020
Vision Ethiopia, a non-partisan association of Ethiopian scholars and professionals, strongly condemns the widely reported massacre of innocent Amharas and Orthodox Christians in Gulisso, a district of Western Wollega (Oromia region), by extremist OLF groups, with the conspicuous lack of intervention, if not facilitation of the crimes, by the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
As we denounced in our earlier Press Release, the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed prohibited peaceful demonstrations called by the National Movement of Amhara (NAMA) for October 28 and 30, 2020 to protest against the continued genocide of the Amhara people and Orthodox Christians.
The fact that these crimes were committed only days after the proscription of the demonstrations is a reaffirmation of the speculations about the government’s association with the genocidal activities in the Oromia region.
Vision Ethiopia reiterates that the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has the sole and irrefutable responsibility for the egregious failure, be it by ineptitude or complicity, to protect the ethnically and religiously targeted social groups against the heinous and genocidal crimes.
There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that the crimes committed on November 1, 2020 were premeditated, with advance knowledge of regional authorities and government agencies. According to eyewitness accounts, the murderers were allowed to execute their gruesome crimes through a well-orchestrated scheme that followed the removal of government forces from the area.
Vision Ethiopia expresses extreme revulsion and contempt for representatives and leaders of the Amhara people and Orthodox Christians who have turned blind eyes and deaf ears to the plights of the victims of the genocidal crimes.
Vision Ethiopia is of the conviction that the intensity and predictable frequency of the genocidal occurrences in Oromia region should be cause for concern for the international community. The killers have continued to hone their killing tactics and the crimes have become brazenly more gruesome than the ones before. Paradoxically, international human rights organizations and the foreign press have yet to give these ominously genocidal developments the attention they deserve.
Therefore, Vision Ethiopia declares the following demands and calls to action: 1. All federal and local government officials who, knowingly or by ineptitude, have failed to protect the victims from genocidal attacks to be removed from office and be brought to justice immediately.
2. We call upon the people of the Amhara region and followers of Orthodox Christians to hold their representatives and leaders accountable for their inaction in the face of the ongoing genocidal crimes.
3. We call upon all peace-loving people of the Oromia region to hold their leaders and security officers accountable for the crimes committed in their region 4. We call upon all international organizations and governments to help bring to justice the perpetrators of genocidal crimes in Ethiopia.
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*Vision Ethiopia is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Washington, D.C. EIN 81-0729204. http://visionethiopia.org. Email: VisionEthiopia@VisionEthiopia.org
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