Amnesty: Ethiopian Security Accused of 39 Ethnic Killings

The Amnesty International accused Ethiopian security forces of executing 39 opposition supporters and arresting thousands of others on charges of supporting the Oromo Liberation Army, an armed opposition faction, according to a report released on Friday.

The chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Ethiopia said the findings in the report "should be taken seriously". 

On their parts, the Oromo Liberation Party and the Oromo Federal Conference called on the opposition to investigate the report.

The report added that the victims are accused of supporting the Oromo Liberation Army, the armed wing splintered from the Oromo Liberation Front, which was designated by the government as a terrorist movement, but Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed lifted the ban.

"Security forces continue to violate human rights despite the reforms introduced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and this is due to the long-term impunity and lack of accountability for these violations," said Faysiha Tekle, Amnesty International researcher in Ethiopia, according to France Press.

“The Ethiopian army, Prime Minister's Office, Oromia and Amhara police did not immediately respond to requests for comment,” the French news agency stated. 

Daniel Bekele, chairman of the Human Rights Commission in Ethiopia, said that Amnesty International's findings "should be taken seriously".

Ethiopian PM Reforms

Abiy introduced reforms that included repealing the ban on political parties, releasing political prisoners, and welcoming the return of armed groups from exile such as the Oromo Liberation Front.

But new freedoms have resulted in an escalation of long-suppressed tensions between the country's many ethnic groups.

[caption id="attachment_84432" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed[/caption]

Since December 2018, the Ethiopian army were being deployed in western and southern Oromia to combat the armed activity of the Oromo Liberation Army.

The Oromo Liberation Party and the Oromo Federal Conference, an opposition party, said in a joint statement that this report is "another evidence that the new administration has not abandoned the practice of cracking down on dissent by using force, committing egregious human rights violations, and carrying out executions without trial." Thus, the party called on the government to investigate the report.

Based on interviews with 80 victims or direct witnesses to the violence, the Amnesty International report stated that Ethiopian military and security forces in Amhara and Oromia were involved in ethnic killings, mass arbitrary arrests, and rape.

The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Abiy according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee announcement on 11 October 2019 in Oslo, Norway.

Abiy won the prize “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation,” according to Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

“The committee has not communicated with the newly-awarded Ahmed, but I’m sending him now my warmest congratulations,” Reiss-Andersen added.

When Abiy became Prime Minister in April 2018, he made it clear that he wished to resume peace talks with Eritrea. In close cooperation with Isaias Afwerki, the President of Eritrea, Abiy quickly worked out the principles of a peace agreement to end the long “no peace, no war” stalemate between the two countries.

“Peace does not arise from the actions of one party alone,” she noted. “When Prime Minister Abiy reached out his hand, President Afwerki grasped it, and helped to formalize the peace process between the two countries.”

In September 2018 he and his government contributed actively to the normalization of diplomatic relations between Eritrea and Djibouti after many years of political hostility.

Additionally, Abiy has sought to mediate between Kenya and Somalia in their protracted conflict over rights to a disputed marine area.

In Sudan, the military regime and the opposition have returned to the negotiating table. On the 17th of August, they released a joint draft of a new constitution intended to secure a peaceful transition to civil rule in the country.