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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    At least 54 killed in school field massacre in Ethiopia, says Amnesty Int'l

    Survivors of a massacre in western Ethiopia have counted 54 bodies in a school field after the latest deadly attack to target ethnic minorities in the country, according to Amnesty International.

    Victims were ethnic Amharas and came from Gawa Qanga village in the West Wellega Zone of Oromia, in an area bordering South Sudan.

    Sunday's attack, thought to have been carried out by members of the rebel Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), took place just a day after Ethiopian Defence Force troops withdrew from the area "unexpectedly and without explanation", human rights group Amnesty said.

    It's been reported that witnesses saw the deaths of men, women and children, as well as the looting of properties and burning down of buildings.

    Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed denounced the killings and said that security forces were now in the area and had "started taking measures".

    Ethnic violence is proving to be one of the greatest challenges faced by
    Ethiopia's prime minister, who was last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner for bringing about extensive political change in the country.


    Writing on Facebook, he said: "Ethiopia's enemies are vowing either to rule the country or ruin it, and they are doing everything they can to achieve this.

    "One of their tactics is to arm civilians and carry out barbaric attacks based on identity. This is heart-breaking."

    Survivors of the attack told Amnesty that the federal troops had withdrawn without a reason and the rebels followed a few hours later, announcing themselves as the OLA and making it clear they controlled the area.


    "Militants gathered people who did not manage to flee, mainly women, children and the elderly, and killed them," the Amnesty statement said.


    Survivors hid in a forest nearby and one told Amnesty that he discovered the bullet-riddled bodies of his brother, sister-in-law and three children in the school field.


    "The fact that this horrendous incident occurred shortly after government troops abruptly withdrew from the area in unexplained circumstances raises questions that must be answered," said Amnesty International's regional director Deprose Muchena.

    The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission believe that attackers numbered up to 60.

    The commission is calling on the federal government to "shed light" as to why the military withdraw from an area "long known to be vulnerable to attacks".


    The Amharas are the second biggest ethnic group in Ethiopia after the Oromos - and have been the recent target of gunmen in the Western Benishangul Gumuz and Southern regions, resulting in the killings of several people.


    The Oromia region's communications office has labelled the latest assault a "brutal terror attack".


    The Amhara region's affiliated broadcaster, Amhara Mass Media Agency, quoted one survivor saying that a school and 120 houses were also burned.


    "The government has failed in its duty to protect the safety of citizens," Dessalegn Chanie, a senior member of the opposition National Movement of Amhara party, said.


    He believes the country's language-based federal system is one of the driving forces behind the killings.


    Mr Chanie added: "Ethnic Amharas residing outside of the Amhara region are being labelled as outsiders and are exposed to repeated attacks."


    At least 54 killed in school field massacre in Ethiopia, says Amnesty International | World News | Sky News

  2. #2
    Thailand Expat
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    "One of their tactics is to arm civilians and carry out barbaric attacks based on identity. This is heart-breaking." Militants gathered people who did not manage to flee, mainly women, children and the elderly, and killed them,"
    black lives matter, ....... errrr oh wait a minute.

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Some defanged colonialism would have been better for Africa than this

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    Some defanged colonialism would have been better for Africa than this
    ...keeping the white folks on top hasn't worked...

  5. #5
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    It's worse in Somalia.

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...keeping the white folks on top hasn't worked...
    It's not about white folk being on top. White folk came with capital

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    A damn mess is what it is.

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The United Nations warned Friday of possible war crimes in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, a day after Amnesty International said that scores of civilians were killed in a “massacre” in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

    The reports came after 10 days of fighting that the country’s prime minister claimed had his enemy “in the final throes of death”.

    Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, ordered military operations in Tigray last week, shocking the international community which fears the start of a long and bloody civil war.

    Hundreds are reported to have been killed, some in a gruesome massacre reported by Amnesty International, and thousands have fled fighting and airstrikes in Tigray, whose leaders Abiy accuses of seeking to destabilize the country.

    “Amnesty International can today confirm… that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the South West Zone of Ethiopia’s Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,” the rights group said in a report Thursday.


    UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet called for a full investigation into the report of mass killings, where Amnesty said it had “digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.”

    “If confirmed as having been deliberately carried out by a party to the current fighting, these killings of civilians would of course amount to war crimes,” she said in a statement.

    Amnesty said it had not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings, however witnesses blamed forces backing the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).


    Witnesses also reported the identity cards of some victims indicated they were from the Amhara region, an area with a long history of tensions with Tigrayans, notably over land.


    Thousands of Amhara militiamen have deployed to the Tigray border to fight alongside federal forces.


    Tigrayan leader Debretsion Gebremichael told AFP on Friday the accusations were “baseless”.


    Abiy says his military operation came in response to attacks on two federal military camps by the TPLF, which once dominated Ethiopian politics and claims it has been sidelined and targeted under Abiy.


    The party denies carrying out the attacks.


    Long-running tensions between Abiy and the TPLF hit a new low in September when Tigray pressed ahead with its own elections, insisting Abiy was an illegitimate leader after national polls were postponed due to the coronavirus.


    UN warns of possible war crimes in Ethiopia after reports of hundreds massacred | The Times of Israel

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat jabir's Avatar
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    Does anyone really think 3W despots and their crews lose too much sleep over war crimes, definitions, standards of evidence, or worse, being shamed by the international community that probably supplied the arms and training?

    Anyone remember a few years back when Bashir left Sudan to visit Lebanon (or a neighbour), and the international court demanded his arrest for serial war crimes? Not sure of the exact answer, but piss off is close enough.

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