Organized groups armed with guns and knives killed several civilians based on their ethnicity in Yaso district of Benishangul-Gumuz region on Thursday night, November 23 , Voice of America’s Mukitar Jemal reported. Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups living in a cluster of villages found in Yaso, on the border with Oromia region of Haro Limu district of East Wollega Zone were targeted by mobs of Gumuz people, witnesses and survivors told the broadcaster. The number of people killed has risen to 37, the witnesses said, though there has not been official confirmation.

A survivor who feigned death and managed to flee to East Wollega told VOA number of families gathered in one house for their safety were massacred. The survivor listed names, Olana Luba killed with three members of his family, Bedesa Habte with five family members, Aduagna Hirpa with eleven members of family, Beissa Husein with eight members of her family and Duro Kilo killed with her children. “They came to the house and they shot them with guns with a silencer,” he said.

Another witness said other than Oromos who were mostly targeted in the attack, Amharas living in the hilly part of what used to be Gojjam Province are also being pursued. He said all light-skinned population are being pursued.

The witnesses also allege the Benishangul-Gumuz region’s security personnel and local administrators were involved in carrying out the attacks. One of the survivors mentioned names of those perpetuators, whom he said are members of the regions’ security and an administrator, Gemechu Banga, Bekele Dagnew, Admasu Gitara and Bekele Chefe.

The Yaso Police head, Commander Girata Kebede contacted by the VOA did not address the question of the security forces’ involvement in the attack. He instead pointed fingers at what he called certain agents of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) are blocking roads in the border area and attacking people of Benishangul-Gumuz.

Dawud Ibsa, chairman of OLF, denied the accusation, saying OLF is not active in the area and it has no any political agenda there. “I don’t understand why they are putting the blame on us. It is an open secret that who is involved in organizing and financing the trainings being given in Sudan, and the role the so-called investors in the area,” he said.

The Berta and Gumuz ethnic groups are among the indigenous ethnic communities in the area, along with Shinasha, Mao and Komo. The region has also a large presence of ethnic Oromo, Amhara and Tigriayan, who are at times labelled as “foreigners”. In the past, there have been conflict between residents of Haro Limu of East Wollegga and Yaso district of Benishangul region over competition over farmland and grazing land, border disputes, cultural and political grievances.

The violence comes amid increasing ethnicity-based unrest in the region. An attack on leaders of the Benishangul-Gumuz regional authority on 25 September has caused the displacement of about 200,000 in both Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced on Nov. 11 due to continuing security concerns in Benishangul-Gumuz region, only government, with an armed escort, was able to provide a one-time humanitarian assistance to IDPs in the two zones. “The unprecedented violence that started in Kamashi zone on 26 September and continued through October and November forced the most vulnerable groups (women, children and the elderly) to flee with no personal belongings, including clothing.”

Image: Gumuz people living in the border area between Oromia and Benishangul photo Ethiopia Observer file.

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