It is one of the deadliest attacks in recent memory, as ethnic tensions continue in Africa’s second most populous country. “I have counted 230 bodies. I am afraid this is the deadliest attack on civilians we have ever seen,” Abdul-Seid Tahir, a Gimbi resident, told the Associated Press after escaping Saturday. “We are burying them in mass graves and still collecting corpses. Federal army units have now arrived, but we are afraid that the attacks will continue if they leave.” Another witness, who gave only his first name, Sambel, out of fear for his safety, said the local Amhara community was now desperately seeking to relocate “before another round of mass killings”. He said ethnic Amharas who had settled in the area about 30 years ago in resettlement programs were now “being killed like chickens”. Both witnesses blamed the Oromo Liberation Army for the attacks. In a statement, the Oromia regional government also blamed OLA, saying the rebels attacked “because they could not resist the operations launched by the (federal) security forces”. An OLA spokesman, Oda Tarbi, denied the allegations. “The attack you are referring to was carried out by the regime army and the local militia as they retreated from their Gimbi camp after our recent attack,” he told the Associated Press. “They fled to an area called Tole, where they attacked the local population and destroyed their property in retaliation for their support of OLA. Our fighters did not even reach this area when the attacks took place.” Ethiopia is experiencing widespread ethnic tensions in several areas, most of them for historical grievances and political tensions. The Amhara people, the second largest ethnic group in Ethiopia with a population of over 110 million, have often been targeted in areas such as Oromia. The government-appointed Ethiopian Commission on Human Rights on Sunday called on the federal government to find a “lasting solution” to the killing of civilians and to protect them from such attacks.
