London-listed KEFI Gold and Copper suspends operations at the Tulu Kapi mining project following a fatal armed assault that left multiple people dead
By Staff Writer
(Nairobi, Kenya) — Armed attackers launched a fatal assault on a major gold mining facility in Ethiopia’s Oromia Region on Friday, forcing London-listed Kefi Gold and Copper to suspend all operations at the site, according to a report by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The attack targeted various facilities at the Tulu Kapi mining project, located in the West Wollega Zone approximately 360 kilometers west of Addis Ababa. Following the raid, Kefi confirmed a “serious security incident resulting in multiple fatalities” across its compound.
While company officials did not disclose the precise death toll or identify the perpetrators, security forces told AFP that casualties included local community members and a company employee. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the incident.
Security Risks and Environmental Concerns in Regional Mining
The Tulu Kapi site began preliminary operations in March 2026, with Kefi planning full-scale commercial production by 2028. Beyond core mining operations, the project framework included constructing access roads, extending regional electricity grid lines, and compensating local communities displaced by site development.
The fatal raid highlights persistent security challenges surrounding major industrial and mineral extraction sites across western Oromia. Human rights advocates previously raised serious concerns regarding another large-scale commercial gold operation at Laga Dembi in Oromia, warning that toxic chemical runoff was contaminating local soil and creating severe health hazards for resident children.
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I guess the ganja puffing ruffian in Western Wallaggaa calls this ‘liberation’. He has forced schools, hospitals and clinics close there. In his dictionary of demons all this is considered to be ‘liberating people’. Folks, this is what I have been saying for more than 5 decades. Any group that chooses the armed(violent) form of struggle will never, ever be the one that will bring democracy and the rule of law to any society. There has never been one since the American Revolution for Independence. All such armed would bring is overthrow the seating regime and replace that with even more repressive despot and found a fiefdom they claim their own. You need me to prove it to you? All you have to do is look around in that region. It will be just a revolving door with despots coming in and going out. We have been crying and moaning about it since 1974. Haven’t we?
I may add this to my comment. The current alleged so-called alliance billed as ‘Tsimdo’ does not seem to have an eloquent leader like the late Meles with a well positioned fanatic pseudo intellectual fan on his side. All we see and hear from is Debre and other occasional moths flying in our face. I don’t see another Ahmed al-Sharaa leader in ‘Tsimdo’ at the moment. I also don’t see a ruler seen by the West these days as another Mengistu. That is why I am genuinely worried at the current scenario in that country. Some of us are honestly concerned that the old country is on its way to being another Yugoslavia. It has been their worries since 1991. But mine is more dire than that. Just imagine one armed group calling its various fighting divisions as ‘Menelik Corps’ and ‘Iyasu’ battalion and another armed group calling poor peasants as ‘land grabbing oppressors’ entering the capital armed to the teeth at the same time. I see that as a perfect Mogadishu of 1991. That has been my sleep depriving nightmare for quite some time now.
In wrapping my comment, I want you to take this one with you. For me it is a standing conviction that the issue the commies among us prefer to call it a ‘national’ question was amicably addressed in 1993. The problem is it has been high jacked and usurped by bigots and connivers who have been murdering and displacing innocent citizens. These demons have been propped and financially maintained by hell bent hate groups from Minnesota, Oregon, Tennessee, Michigan, Toronto, Oslo and Down Under. If not for the steadfastness of upright and harmonious vast citizens in every region there, the old country could have descended into another all out bloodbath by now. Enough said for me for now.