Over 100 university students traveling by bus from the Amhara region to the capital, Addis Ababa, were abducted by gunmen in the Oromia region, BBC reported. Most of the students, reportedly from Debark University, were abducted by gunmen in the Gerbe Guracha area of the Oromia region, family members and witnesses told the BBC.
The students, from Debark and Bahir Dar, were traveling in three public transport buses when they were reportedly seized by the armed group known as the Oromo Liberation Army, “Shene,” on Wednesday, according to the BBC report. They were passing through a small village between Goha Tsion and Tulu Milki when the armed men blocked the buses and kidnapped them, it was said. It is not clear how many of the students were taken captive, with witnesses suggesting the number could be between 120 and 130. In addition to the students, the buses carried other passengers, including women and children.
According to one student who managed to escape, the government forces arrived shortly after and exchanged gunfire with the gunmen, who had walked about five kilometers with the captives.
The kidnappers, who contacted the families, are demanding a ransom of 700,000 birr for each student. They have threatened to kill the captives if the demand is not met, according to the report.
Humanity in practice means to be a voice for the voiceless and to stand for the protection of life against the tyranny of evil individuals, particularly from the abuse by armed governments, warlords, and politicians. In Ethiopia, civilians, especially innocent people, are subjected to unimaginable crimes such as eviction, torture, and unjust imprisonment under the repressive regime that emerged from the fake federal rule by the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front), worsened by their ally OPDO, now called Prosperity Party, led by the deceiving leader Abiy Ahmed, who wrongly received the Nobel Prize.
Two years ago, female students were kidnapped by the military faction OLA of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and this week, similar incidents occurred mainly with male students, who were traveling home during break season. The regime in Addis Ababa and its controlled media are preoccupied with a fictitious “corridor city” project, while the international community remains largely indifferent to this humanitarian tragedy.
I refuse to stay silent. I appeal to all Ethiopian compatriots and the international community to condemn these brutal actions and dismantle of civillians by this evil regime in Ethiopia, which is orchestrating another potential genocide, particularly targeting the Amhara population.
History teaches us that when German Nazi criminals first attacked other populations, Western powers remained silent, reacting only when the Nazis turned against them.
Let us not repeat this tragedy. Let us be the voice for the voiceless Ethiopians, especially the Amhara people, whose identity has been a target of divisive politics for decades, fueled by the collaboration of Oromo and Tigrayan supremacist politicians, reaching its peak under the current Ethiopian regime.
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