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| Drone strikes in Ethiopia’s Oromia kill civilians. |
News gathered by GhanaNews.hrforum.uk, confirm that, drone attacks carried out in the Oromia region of Ethiopia last week resulted in the deaths of many dozens of people. The assaults on the strongholds of the proscribed Oromo Liberation Army occurred at a time when combat between federal troops and the terrorist organisation had increased.
“I lost three of my brothers in a drone attack on Wednesday,
Oct. 19,” said a witness who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for
his safety. “The attack happened around 12 p.m. in the Metta Welkite area.
There was an earlier drone strike, and they went out to carry injured people to
health centers. But they themselves were killed by a drone along with 20
others. My brothers were all students ... (And) we buried their mutilated
bodies.”
The most lethal attack was carried out by a drone on Sunday
during a graduation ceremony for members of the OLA in West Shewa's Cobi
County. The OLA is an organisation that Ethiopia considers to be a terrorist
group.
“Residents were told by the rebel group to attend the
ceremony, so hundreds of people were there … (because) not attending the event
was not an option,” an engineer who witnessed the aftermath of the attack said.
“What I saw some 20 minutes after the attack was a carnage. Women, children,
the elderly and some members of the rebel group were killed.”
Authorities at the local level have refused to comment on the
strikes, and officials at the federal level have not supplied any more
information. However, in a statement that was released on Tuesday, the Oromo
Federalist Congress, which is one of the main political organisations in
Ethiopia, acknowledged that the attacks had taken place.
“The irresponsible drone attack on Sunday killed 7- and
10-year-old children, mothers, the elderly and disabled people,” the statement
from the party with a strong base in the Oromia region said. “The government …
is busy using drones and fighter jets against civilians. And it is trying to
hide these killings against ethnic Oromos from the public.”
The Oromo Liberation Army, which the Ethiopian government
accuses of carrying out mass killings in recent months, alleged Tuesday that
the government used drones and other airborne assets to “indiscriminately
massacre civilians” in the Metta, Nunu Qumba, Wama Hagalo and Cobi areas of
western and central Oromia over the past few days.
According to the OLA, the number of fatalities is in the
hundreds, and they claimed that civilian gatherings and schools were
specifically targeted.
The Oromo Liberation Front was an opposition party, and the
rebel organisation used to be the OLF's military branch at one point. In 2018,
its members returned to Ethiopia in response to an invitation extended by Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed to political individuals and organisations that had been
living in exile.
However, the military branch of the party quickly severed its
ties with the political party and initiated violent battles with government
troops while declaring that it stood for the protection and self-determination
of Ethiopia's biggest ethnic group, the Oromo.
Despite the fact that government troops are now engaged in yet another bloody fight in the northern Tigray area of Ethiopia, local sources indicate that the rebel group is expanding its territory.
The war in Tigray is not related to the one in Oromia in any
way. But around the end of 2017, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and Tigrayan
forces made public their intention to form an alliance with the objective of
overthrowing the Ethiopian government. This week, peace discussions between the
government and representatives of Tigray got under way.
Source:
ghananews.hrforum.uk
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