The Global Alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians (GARE) has been in the forefront in defending the rights of Ethiopians within and outside the country. Thanks to the generosity of supporters in the Diaspora, GARE has provided financial support to those in greatest need: families of those killed through extrajudicial measures by the regime in Ethiopia, victims of famine, migrants expelled from the Middle East and those murdered in Libya, persons displaced because of ethnic conflicts, activists stranded in various countries, residents in Addis Ababa whose livelihood were shattered because of government neglect and measures, etc. However modest, such support will continue.
Ethiopian society has been going through the most tumultuous and horrendous period in the country’s history since November 2015. Continued assaults on civil society and ordinary citizens instigated principally by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that dominates the governing party, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in general and its key federal institutions such as security, federal police, the Agazi and special units, has compounded targeted and selective ethnic killings of the Amhara, Annuak, Oromo and indigenous people in the Omo valley.
Ethnically targeted and selective killings continue to occur throughout the country since October 22, 2017. An estimated 30 Amhara nationals, including children and women were murdered in Buno Bedele, Illubabor of the Oromia region. Many of them were hacked to death in a manner reminiscent of what happened in Rwanda in the 1990s. Targeted and selective killings continued in Adigrat, the Tigray region where Amhara and Oromo college students were murdered. No one has been held accountable for the deaths.
Atrocities against Oromo and Amhara nationals continued unabated since November 2015. More than 1,000 Oromo and Amhara were killed, most of them through extrajudicial measures. More than 11,000 were arrested. No one really knows the number of disappearances. The most recent flares are, in fact a continuation of unresolved grievances among Ethiopians. On December 11, 2017, federal troops commanded by Tigrean officers massacred 16 innocent civilians in the town of Celenko, Oromia. Of those murdered, five were from the same family. Reports show that these federal forces came to the town and region uninvited. Those responsible for these massacres should be held accountable for crimes against humanity.
The murders of innocent Oromo in Celenko compounded the ethnic-conflicts between Oromo and Somali Ethiopians who have lived side by side peacefully for generations. This conflict resulted in the deaths of large numbers of Oromo nationals and the tragic so-called “revenge killings” of more than 30 Somali nationals.
Whether revenge or not, such killings of innocent Ethiopians of any nationality or religious group is inexcusable and must be condemned. Human life has equal value.
It saddens members and supporters of the GARE organization to note that the norm in Ethiopia is for federal forces to massacre innocent people; and for the world community and for ordinary Ethiopians to move on as if nothing has happened. It saddens us to note that recurrent ethnic killing has now reached a level in which no one is secure or safe.
On October 3, 2016, GARE released a press statement condemning TPLF/EPRDF-sponsored terrorism and massacre of innocent Oromo civilians in Bishoftu, Oromia. We ‘expressed our condolences to the families and relatives of those who were massacred. We have expressed similar sentiment to Amhara nationals murdered.’
GARE therefore condemns the murders of innocent Somali nationals regardless of the culprits. We condemn those high officials within the TPLF/EPRDF who instigate interethnic murders and violence; and call for a UN independent investigation of all murders and killings.
GARE calls on all Ethiopians within and outside the country to condemn targeted and selective killings; and urge Ethiopians to reject such violence that might lead to a Rwanda-like genocide.
GARE calls on all Ethiopian opposition groups within and outside Ethiopia to reject ethnic-based killings and marginalization; and condemn the governing party, state and government system dominated by the TPLF that prolongs its political and economic grip through ethnic divide and rule, targeted and selective killings and brutality.
Once again, GARE expresses its deepest condolences to the families and relatives of those who were massacred.
There is nothing in the annals of modern Ethiopian or African or world history that depicts the barbaric, cruel and inhumane nature of the recurring atrocities perpetrated by Ethiopian government authorities directly or indirectly. They are accountable for the tragedy.
GARE urges the global community, especially the governments of the United States, the European Community and the African Union to have the courage and demand that the TPLF- dominated regime to stop murdering its own people either directly or through proxies.
Once again, GARE calls upon all Ethiopian civic, political, spiritual and other stakeholders within and outside the country to set aside minor differences and offer the Ethiopian people a better government alternative before Ethiopia becomes the next Rwanda or Syria.
GARE will do everything within its means to support the families and relatives of those killed and wounded and calls on all Ethiopians to collaborate in this national effort. Read more here
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