Residents Report Mass Displacement, Village Burnings, and the Killing of an Orthodox Priest Amid Government Operations Targeting Alleged Fano Support
By Borkena Desk
TORONTO, Canada — Ethnic Amhara communities in Anger Gute Town in East Wollega continue to face security threats following an incident involving a passenger bus last week. Thousands are reportedly displaced.
DW Amharic cited a resident of Anger Gute town, whose name was undisclosed, as saying that a passenger bus traveling from the town to Nekemte was attacked. An estimated 40–50 passengers were abducted by the gunmen who launched the attack, and their whereabouts remain unknown. The source stated it did not verify the story from independent sources.
According to the source, calm is not restored in the locality of Tulu-Lencha and Village Three after the incident. “The security condition is still concerning. So long as there are armed groups operating in the area and disrupting the security, we, as civilians do have a security concern,” a resident from the area told DW Amharic.
Residents also said that many have been unjustly displaced from Village Three, leaving properties behind. Fighting between armed groups in the area is common, they added. However, they say they are being targeted on alleged grounds of providing logistical support to the armed groups. Tulu Lencha, Jebed Gojjam Sefer, Village 02, and Village 14 were impacted, and residents have been displaced to Tulu Gana.
Video footage that went viral among Ethiopians on social media shows government forces—particularly the Geda Commando, Oromia region’s security forces—burning homes. Another shocking video purportedly shows these same armed forces abusing the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In another picture, the dead body of a priest was displayed. The victim was later identified as Qomos Aba Tadesse.
There has been military engagement between armed groups and government forces in the area. Residents from the area told DW Amharic that on Saturday there was gunfire in the Limu Gelila district, particularly in the vicinity of Fendeka. It was not specified whether there were casualties from the incident.
Fano forces have been launching attacks on government forces in the Wollega region. However, a verified report found that ethnic Amhara communities in the area were not involved in any form in Fano’s operations. Activists and some opposition politicians say what is transpiring against ethnic Amhara communities in the region amounts to ethnic cleansing and/or genocide.
The Oromia regional state and Ethiopian Federal government have not yet remarked on the development.
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This is 1970’s revisited. The years of those 1970’s is when the old country lost a generation due to an all out bloodshed. It was the time when opposition groups were killing each other and the military junta butchering every opposition without mercy. The perpetrators of the bloodshed were said to be members of MEISONE, EPRP, ELF/EPLF, OLF, TPLF, WSLF/ONLF, and the DERG. Those were followed by EPRDF and the current regime since 1991. These two started making prisoners disappear without a trace in secret and when that did not work then they went back to the textbooks of the DERG. You now see bigots and rogue soldiers showing photos and videos of their barbaric crimes against humanity. I remember a gruesome video several years ago that took place in the northwestern part of that country showing a citizen being stoned and bayoneted to his death while pleading for his life which was condemned by the Holiness leader of my neighbor Christian brothers and sisters. Those who claim themselves to be fighting the regime to liberate this or that group of people have been cited for committing the same savage crimes against innocent civilians. We have to remember the legal protection everyone is entitled that the accused is innocent until proven guilty in a fair and open court of law. Extrajudicial killings are crimes against humanity. We should never ever condone such repulsive crimes no matter who committed them. Period.
Btw, I just looked up this town on Google map with the satellite version and noticed how it is well planned with city streets cutting each other at right angles just like that Asbe/Chiro/Ciroo town in Western Hararghe which was founded by that Russian educated intellectual Tekle. I had spent one of my summertime vacations in the 1960’s for a few days with my Middle Eastern collage classmate in Jimma town. My classmate who was a student majoring in urban planning didn’t take him too long to notice how Jimma was a well planned city with its roads crisscrossing at right angles. We later discovered that Jimma was overhauled by the Italians in the 1930’s planning to live there forever. We also discovered and visited a wood mill run by Italians at the outskirt of that city.
This tragedy is taking place while another and even deadlier calamity is already devastating several communities in that country including the entire East African region. The weather phenomenon El-Nino is firmly in place and the forecast tells us it will only get stronger through half of the next spring season. Even then it may not go away completely and will be visiting us every summer during the following the two or three years. I am extremely worried for the people of that country. With armed conflicts continuing and possibly spreading coupled with poor preparedness, the 1984-85 killer famine can be in the offing. We are not talking about a country of 35-40 million people of the early 1980’s but close to 150 million today that keep multiplying like worms. It will be a tragedy unseen. Let’s hope and pray that will not be the case.