Account Issued by the coalition of Oromo advocacy and human rights groups
July 6, 2022
During the week following June 18, international print and broadcast media ran a
dramatic story about a “massacre” that was supposedly carried out by a “rebel group” driven by
“ethnic hatred” in the Oromia region of Western Ethiopia. The report, which grabbed the
headlines and went viral on the Internet on June 19, was that “at least 200” persons who were
claimed to be “civilians” of “Amhara ethnic identity” were slaughtered following a battle
between “Ethiopian government forces” and the “Oromo Liberation Army” in the Tole/Gimbi
area. Accusations escalated. Some outlets reported that the victims were “mostly women and
children”; some gave the number as “25”, others said “200”, others as high as “320.” By the end
of the week the alleged number had escalated to “1500” or “many thousands.” The essential
components of this story were picked up within hours of the first filing, though any search for
hard evidence has yet to be carried out.
Media Outlets are Complicit in Magnifying the Ethiopian Government’s Propaganda
Campaign and in Fomenting Intensified War in Oromia
Posting such a sensational story, which has far-reaching political and moral implications,
without inquiry or verification, is irresponsible. It exposes most international media outlets to
complicity with the Ethiopian government’s strategy to foment war against its most significant
challenger, OLA, in the largest region of the country, Oromia. Broadcasting these unexamined
accounts asserting “horrific brutality” magnifies an overt propaganda campaign. Yet it was
hastily picked up without examination and transmitted instantly in Ethiopia and globally carried
by virtually all major media outlets.
We call for rapid, thorough investigation of this complex incident to be conducted by
impartial skilled researchers who have ample experience and awareness of authoritarian regimes’
efforts to manipulate and weaponize information by intimidation of witnesses, blockades of
communication and transport access to affected areas, and control of both translators and
interview subjects. We also believe an impartial investigation of the “Tole massacre” by a
neutral body would open up an equal opportunity of extending impartial investigations in other
parts of Oromia.
The “Tole Massacre” Story Augments a Global Disinformation Campaign
The story of a brutal “massacre” attributed to the Oromo Liberation Army was
immediately used by the Ethiopian government as a pretext for publicly discrediting OLA and
for declaring a renewed and intensified military offensive against this resistance movement.
Widespread coerced conscription of youth in Amhara and Oromia region was launched within a
week of the story breaking for the expressed purpose of “eliminating” the OLA force.
In the same month that the international community, particularly Western policy circles,
were announcing the “end of the war in Tigray” the Ethiopian government is using this highly
suspicious incident as the pretext for expanding the war front in Oromia with the OLA.
By June 24, the international policy establishment including the offices of the US
Ambassador to the UN and the US State Department had issued responses of concern that
accepted the essential components of the story, thus giving credence to the Ethiopian
government’s accounts.
The intensity and scope of the disinformation campaign surrounding this “massacre”
reveals the well-orchestrated nature of the regime’s propaganda capacity and reach. Consider
some of the components:
- Abiy Ahmed’s government asserted that OLA should be condemned by the international
community and banned from internationally-supported negotiations about Ethiopia,
thereby aiming to legitimize his government’s war campaigns and abuses in Oromia. - Widespread social media rhetoric and hashtags amplified the story and widely
disseminated the narrative that the event constituted “ethnic cleansing” and “proof of
genocide”, laying the responsibility at the feet of the OLA. - Photos and images of other massacres, some that occurred in December 2020 in West
Africa and from Metekal zone on October 8, 2021, flooded social media, posted as if they
were from Gimbi on June 18, 2022. - Vigils and protest rallies decrying the “slaughter” were held worldwide[.
- Prominent Ethiopian singer, Teddy Afro, released a single titled “Unleavened Bread”
about the event. - A Wikipedia entry for “Gimbi Massacre” was set up immediately.
- The Prosperity Party appointed Presidents of both Oromia and Amhara regional states
held a joint press conference to announce their common goal of eliminating the OLA.
Fundamental Questions:
What actually happened?
- It is not yet known what actually occurred in the Gimbi area of Wollega on June 18, The factual/evidentiary basis for stories of a massacre has not been collected or
made available yet. There are widely varying verbal reports.
Who is telling the story?
- Initial reporting was based on interviews conducted exclusively by phone from Addis
Ababa or Nairobi with hand-picked witnesses. The initial story was collected by an
Ethiopian journalist working for Associated Press who rushed to file the story. As of July
5, there had been no in-person follow-up investigation by media who ran the story.
Were there casualties?
- There have been no authenticated photos, no video, no in-person interviews or forensic
investigation that might indicate the nature and scale of what may have occurred.
Who were the perpetrators?
- Accounts vary. Some Amhara residents reported that Oromo Liberation Army combatants
were responsible. Other Amhara residents, one of whom was a member of the militia
himself, claimed that it was not OLA but Amhara militia were “killing their own.” A
third account explained that the “higher authorities” sent regional special forces to clean
up the area and that they themselves were ordered to vacate the area. OLA asserted that
ENDF (security) forces of the regime itself carried out the attacks in an effort to
“disparage” them. OLA expressed confidence that they would be exonerated by any fair
investigation. A local witness reported that after a battle in which OLA had held Gimbi
and Dembi Dollo towns for a day or two, the governors of the district and the local
farmers’ association (Kebele) were ordered by higher party officials of the regional state
to vacate their positions for a specified period of time, during which the massacre,
occurred. He said that these regional forces, Defense and Oromia Special Forces (OSP.)
took orders from the Regional President. “Tole’s Massacre is the regime’s work and the
government is responsible. We, together with the Woreda officials, had to watch the
massacre just like a movie.”
Who were the victims?
- This has yet to be established. Were they civilians? Some say, yes, that defenseless
civilians were slaughtered in ruthless attacks by armed combatants who pulled them from
their homes and killed them outright. Some accounts say that Amhara civilians, women
and children were killed. Others explained that those killed were combatants reported as
civilians, others that the dead were Argoba Muslim settlers who were resettled by the
TPLF government in the 1990s. Some say Oromo civilians were killed by Amhara militia
and reported as Amhara civilians. - Another account claims that the dead were Amhara combatants killed in armed confrontations between the OLA and the ENDF (government military forces) with Amhara militia in the days prior to June 18. The fire fights had produced a large number of casualties. Some reports said that armaments were removed from the bodies of the combatants and that, without inspection, there was a general claim that all the dead who were buried were Amhara civilians.
What was the scale of the operation?
- Assertions of casualties/deaths vary from 25 to 1500. The scale of the operation must be
determined by neutral investigation.
How can the truth be known?
- This is a daunting challenge as it appears all avenues to conduct protected interviews
appear to be closed. Independent and impartial investigation must be conducted in person
to ascertain the facts. The Ethiopian government routinely blocks communication and
visitors’ travel access to this area of Western Wollega, Oromia:- From June 29, 2020 the government closed all remaining independent media in
the country, notably Oromia Media Network and Oromia News Network among
others, leaving internal media and journalists under government control. - For over three years, that area of Wollega has operated under the tight control of
Command Post (military rule) which displaced civilian administration, - An internet blackout, in place in Western Wollega since 2019 has meant that little
information has been available. - Telecommunication services are blocked intermittently and frequently.
- Roads are often blocked. When open, roads are closely monitored by government
agents with aggressive interrogation and surveillance at frequent check points. - Journalists and human rights personnel are denied travel permits to access
affected regions.
- From June 29, 2020 the government closed all remaining independent media in
Who benefits from the account?
- The unexamined story of the Tole massacre is being used as a rationale by the Ethiopian
government to further its propaganda and political agenda and to disrupt the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people. - Policy benefits, both local and international, accrue Ethiopian government authorities as
the US and UN reaction provide an unmerited measure of credibility to the Ethiopian
government’s stratagem. - The headline-grabbing response to the “Tole Massacre” report turned media attention
- away from gruesome news videos of verified June 17 atrocities against Oromo by the
- Ethiopian government and Amhara militia. These stories were overshadowed:
- 1) In Gambella region approximately 200 Oromo civilians were killed in violent house-to-house attacks following a military operation
- 2) In Wollo two truckloads of Oromo young men were pulled out of the freight hauler and dozens were shot as video captured the incident.
The people of Oromia, numbering over 44 million, are the real targets of this campaign.
Since the government of Ethiopia does not enjoy their support, it has chosen to try to
silence them through terror rather than accommodating their demands.
What should be done?
- Western and international news media should take specific steps to avoid complicity in
the overt attempts by the government of Ethiopia and its official state media outlets to influence
the international news cycle and gain visibility for what will most likely be revealed as outright
propaganda and calculated disinformation. These media should step away from playing critical
role in fanning the flames of violence by generating multiple headlines derived from the same
original unverified sources. - The gruesome story cannot be taken lightly. The government’s agenda is to dishonor and
remove independent Oromo parties from participation in any negotiations about the future of
the country. OLA and OLF are thus accused of “terrorism” and “brutality.” This incident and
the international reaction to it furthers those government objectives and fits previous patterns
of disingenuous attribution. The pattern of instigating division and violence followed by false
attribution is well-established, but, as yet, unseen or unacknowledged by international
audiences. Fair and through investigation is urgently needed.
Breaking Update__________
- July 4, 2022 – “Qellem Massacre” – As this piece is released, another massacre has been
carried out that fits this pattern precisely: attacks carried out by Federal security forces
were blamed on the Oromo Liberation Army. However, in this case, local Amhara
community members revealed that the attacks have come from the government and that
the OLA has never hurt them. Then a Member of Parliament also has exposed and
attested to the Oromia Regional government’s responsibility for the slaughter.
Media Contacts
Bonnie Holcomb, Oromo Advocacy Alliance. bkholcomb@gmail.com: +1 301 523 5565
Jemal M Sadik, Oromia Global Forum. Jemal.e.m.sadik@gmail.com: +1 612 483 0161
Signatories
Advocacy 4 Oromia; Melbourne, Australia
Advocacy for Justice for the Oromo People: Glasgow, UK
Baro Tumsa Institute; Greenbelt, MD
Oromia Global Forum; Tacoma Park, MD
Oromia Support Group; Malvern, UK; Melbourne, Australia
Oromo Advocacy Alliance; Washington DC
Oromo Legacy Leadership and Advocacy Association; Falls Church, VA
Oromo Menschenrechts und Hilfsorganisation (Oromo Human Rights and Relief Organisation);
Hanover, Germany
Oromo Professionals Group; Washington, DC
Union of Oromo Communities in Canada; Ontario, Canada