A weekend of violence on the outskirts of Addis Ababa left unspecified numbers dead and hundreds displaced, police and witnesses said. A well-organised and ruthless gang prey on residents with knives, stones or iron bars in Ashewa Meda, Burayu, Anfo, Keta and Asko areas of Oromia region, according to multiple witnesses. The attacks were carried out on Friday and Saturday nights, and according to many accounts had an ethnic and criminal trend, Oromo youths targeting minority Dorze, Gamo, and Wolaita ethnic groups. “They entered to our house and they destroyed all of our property. They torched all the weaving tools with box of matches. Nothing is left. Luckily, some neighbours helped us to leave and I fled with my children at around three after midnight,” a distraught man from Dorze tribe in his fifty told the state broadcaster ETV.  Most of the Dorzes are engaged in weaving white robe.“We don’t know who they are. They entered into the house in groups and did a wholescale looting of property, and they attacked us,” another witness, a young woman in her twenties said.

Violence sparked by a killing of a six-year-old girl

Witnesses said  the violence started after the kiling of a six-year-old girl, leading to a skirmish between the Oromo and Dorze ethinc groups. Angry Oromo mob reacted in retaliation, attacking Dorze people and looting their houses and shops, according to the witnesses. Several people also described Oromia police’s inability to decisively deal with the criminal activities and certain community dwellers organizing themselves into vigilante groups to protect others from the menace.

Terrified residents, most of them from Dorze and Gamo tribe, fled the area following the attack on the following day and around five hundred people including children and women have been given shelter in churches and schools in Addis Ababa. Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa, Takele Uma Banti who visited a temporary shelter at Kale school this morning tweeted that, “the spate of violence and counterattacks are unacceptable and run contrary to the spirit of medemer, unity, togetherness, and inclusion.” Local administrators have asked aid agencies operating in the area and residents to provide humanitarian assistance.

Seventy arrested

The Oromia region Police Commissioner Alemayehu Ejigu told ETV that 70 suspects have been arrested in connection with the violence. He said police is taking steps to restore peace and to return the displaced persons.

The assailants were not identified, but several people on social media and websites pointed fingers at the underground activist networks, known as Qeerroo. However, the Federal Police Commissioner, Zeynu Jemal hinted possible links with a deep state trying to dismantle the Abiy Administration, saying two different political groups organised themselves under one command have been responsible for instigating the violence. “They have worked deliberately to create tensions between the Oromos and the other communities living in the Oromia region,” he was quoted as saying. Mohammed Ademo, the founder and editor of OPride.com, also said that the organized mob and agent provocateurs represent no one. “They are hired (organized) to sow discord, division and mistrust. Let‘s not fall into their traps. Let’s stop pointing fingers at each other and blaming entire groups of people or communities,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

The incident further heightened security fears, after worsening violence across the country and casts shadow for the reformist leader Abiy Ahmed.  Abiy who is in Saudi Arabia denounced the killings.“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed strongly condemns the killings and acts of violence against innocent citizens … These cowardly attacks represent a grave concern to the unity and solidarity of our people & will be met with appropriate response,” said Fitsum Arega, the prime minister’s chief of staff, in a tweet.

Update on 11:40 GMT, Sept 17: Reuters wrote today that at least 23 people were killed in the weekend of violence citing a police source.

Main image: People arriving in Addis Ababa fearing violence on the outskirts of the city. Photo Kalikidan Yibeltal.

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