Credit: Wikipedia Commons /  Flag of Federal Republic of Ethiopia

By Gary Raynaldo      DIPLOMATIC   TIMES

At least 54 people from the Amhara ethnic group in Ethiopia were killed in an attack late on Sunday  by suspected members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) armed group, according to Amnesty International.  The attack on Gawa Qanqa village in Guliso District of West Wellega Zone took place just a day after Ethiopian Defense Forces troops withdrew from the area unexpectedly and without explanation. Witnesses said dozens of men, women and children were killed, property looted and what the militants could not carry away, they set on fire.  The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat strongly condemned the killing of innocent civilians following inter-communal violence in Ethiopia, the AU said in a statement .  The  AU said Mahamat  extends his “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims and wishes speedy recovery to the wounded.  The AU Chairperson also “calls on national authorities to ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are found and held accountable”.  The Chairperson, noting the rise in inter-communal violence, calls on all stakeholders to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric and work towards de-escalating tensions in the country, the AU statement added. 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL Calls on Ethiopian Authorities to Investigate and Hold those Responsible for Attack

“This senseless attack is the latest in a series of killings in the country in which members of ethnic minorities have been deliberately targeted. The fact that this horrendous incident occurred shortly after government troops abruptly withdrew from the area in unexplained circumstances raises questions that must be answered. The Ethiopian authorities must investigate what happened and prosecute those responsible for the attack through fair trials.”

-said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.

The survivors said they had counted 54 bodies in a school compound where the militants gathered people who did not manage to flee, mainly women, children and the elderly, and killed them, according to Amnesty International.  One man told Amnesty International that three of his relatives were killed – his father, his sister and his wife’s grandfather. Another said he lost his brother, sister-in-law and three children including nephews and cousins. Their bodies were found in the school grounds with bullet wounds.

“The Ethiopian government must step up its efforts to end armed attacks on minority groups and protect their lives and stop the destruction of homes, not only in Oromia, but across the country,” said Deprose Muchena.

 ETHIOPIA Under Prime Minister Ahmed’s ‘MEDEMER’: Paradise or Hell?

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has unveiled a new political philosophy for his country: “medemer,” an Amharic word which literally translates as “addition,” or “coming together.”  But just what does this Medemer really mean?  The Prime Minister explained that medemer is a homegrown ideal of synergy, convergence for a common destiny.  The inclusiveness of medemer insures that no one is left behind.    

Ethiopian Professor Calls For Prime Minister  Ahmed To Resign Over Killings and Jailing of Opposition 

Credit: Gary Raynaldo /  Etana Dinka , visiting Assistant Professor of African History and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Oberlin College, Ohio, US, was extremely critical of medemer and P.M. Ahmed at the the United States Institute of Peace hosted a  panel that included representatives of the Office of Prime Minister Ahmed for a look at the questions, possibilities, and problems offered by medemer.  “A Changing Ethiopia: Understanding Medemer Can A New Political Philosophy Remake Ethiopia?”  held Feb. 13, 2020 at the USIP  in Washington D.C. 

Growing Ethnic Violence threatens Ethiopia  goal of  Medemer  Unity 

Last October 2019, at least 67 people were  been killed and more than 200 injured in protests in Ethiopia’s  Oromia region. Nineteen people were killed in direct clashes with security forces, according to media reports, while the others were killed in clashes between supporters of Prime Minister Ahmed and supporters of Jawar Mohammed, an independent media owner and a prominent critic of the premier.   Some critics see Medemer as an empty slogan,  and just an attempt to keep PM Ahmed grip on power and dominance  in Ethiopian politics.

“The Prime Minister Ahmed is a problem to Ethiopian reform, and removing him from power is the priority.  In reform, we need to open the  space equally to the opposition. Hundreds of opposition supporters are being put in jail, farmers are being killed on their own farms. Citizens are being killed. The political space has not been open as promised. There is no equal opportunity given to the opposition. The political party is hijacking every government institution to promote this ideal of medemer.  Medemer is not a new philosophy at all. It has no practical value. It is a return to an Imperial Ethiopia. It is a Hell.”

-Etana Dinka ,  Assistant Professor of African History and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Oberlin College, Ohio.