Falls Church, Virginia (04/01/2021)—The Oromo Legacy, Leadership, and Advocacy Association (OLLAA) strongly condemns this week’s violence in West Wollega Zone, which the Ethiopian federal government says resulted in the deaths of 30 Amhara civilians.
As the incidents in Wollega demonstrate, conflict in Ethiopia is not limited to the Tigray region, but affects virtually every province and woreda in the country. Media reports have stated that there is no connection between the Tigrayan regional conflict and the ongoing violence in Wollega, Wollo, and other majority-Oromo provinces. However, it is essential that the public recognizes that all ongoing conflicts across the country, from Tigray to Wollega, are connected.
These many conflicts reveal an ongoing pattern of persecution by the federal government, which seeks to disempower the nation’s many ethnic groups, preventing them from exercising their right to political autonomy. The government has already blamed Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) for the Wollega attacks without in-depth investigation. Last week, Amhara regional forces perpetrated their own deadly military campaign against Oromo civilians in Wollo.
As an organization committed to peace and human rights for all, OLLAA unequivocally condemns violence on all sides and urges an immediate end to all hostilities.
Just as it did at the start of the Tigrayan conflict, the Ethiopian federal government frequently commits crimes against its own citizens and then seeks to evade responsibility by scapegoating other parties. OLLAA emphasizes that military attacks against non-combatants can never be justified. The Amhara regional forces (ARF) must not use the attacks in Wollega as an excuse to harm Oromo civilians in Wollo and elsewhere.
“The presence and action of the ARF only exhaust or exacerbate an already dire situation,” said Seenaa Jimjimo, OLLAA Executive Director.
OLLAA agrees with OLA Commander Jaal Marroo Dirribaa’s calls for an immediate investigation into the attacks in Wollega. This investigation must be credible, impartial, and most of all apolitical.
Last week’s actions by Amhara forces in Wollo resulted in the deaths of an unknown number of Oromo civilians, the destruction and looting of farms and houses, and the mass burning of several Wollo villages. The violence has resulted in the internal displacement of thousands of Oromo families, including women and children who are now left without shelter or supplies.
The international community must expand its inquiry into the Tigray conflict to other regions of Ethiopia, including Wollega and Wollo. The future of Ethiopia requires the guarantee of peace and freedom for all people, from Borna, to Gondar, and everywhere in between.
Updated 03 April 2021.