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Toronto – Government forces have reportedly killed two civilians in Begi and Babo districts of West Wollega, Oromia region of Ethiopia.
VOA Amharic on Monday cited residents from the area to report five other people were arrested on the same day on alleged grounds that their “sons or husbands are members of Oromo Liberation Army.”
According to the source , the killings of civilians are happening in connection with the fighting between government forces and the militant OLA group in the area. The latter has been operating in the area since Abiy Ahmed became Prime Minister in 2018.
Residents complain that their security is impacted by the fighting between government and rebel forces in the area.
VOA Amharic also said that it tried to reach out to Gibe and Babo Genbel district administration to get a reply. It was not successful.
However, head of West Wollega zone administration, Solomon Tamiru, has reportedly responded, in writing, to the VOA inquiry. He is quoted as saying “the security situation in the zone has improved more than ever before.”
Ethiopian Defense Force Chief of staff recently claimed that OLA is weakened in the area and that the security situation has improved.
The militant group, with alleged help from government officials in the region, has been extensively operating in the region for the past six years, and is linked to the massacre of civilians – mostly ethnic Amhara engaged in subsistence farming activity who have been living in that part of Ethiopia for generations.
Also, the group has been linked to the attacks on Ethiopian Orthodox Churches, followers of the church and priests. The group has been alleging that the government itself has organized another armed group in the image of OLA ,and that it is behind most of the killings in the region.
Human Rights Organizations in Ethiopia, for example Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, did release multiple reports this year regarding the situation in the region. The reports indicated that both the armed group and government forces were involved in the killings of civilians.
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