At least 15 people, including a police officer, have been killed in the latest episode of ethnic violence in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, adding to hundreds of others, local government officials reported on Monday. Officials noted that dozens of homes were burned and thousands of residents have been displaced since Wednesday, with most seeking refuge in schools and playgrounds.
Wondosen Zelik, a medical official in Anstoka in the North Shewa administrative area, told AFP, "I treated more than 30 injured and more than 10 people have been killed," describing the "killings, displacements, and widespread arson" as "unprecedented." He explained that "all the victims were shot."
In the town of Majti in North Shewa, four farmers and a police officer were killed in separate incidents, according to a local official who spoke to AFP. The officials indicated they expect the death toll to be much higher.
In early April, senior Ethiopian mediator Endal Haile told AFP that more than 300 people had been killed and over 300 injured during several days of violence in March in the Shewa and Oromo areas of the Amhara region.
On Sunday, the Ethiopian army announced the deployment of troops in Amhara to curb violence between the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups, the two largest in the country, following renewed violence. The Amhara region is predominantly inhabited by the Amhara ethnic group, which is the second largest in Ethiopia but has been the most affected by violence, while the Oromo occupy their own region and are the largest ethnic group in the country.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is of Oromo ethnicity, came to power in 2018 following a prolonged protest movement involving youth from both the Amhara and Oromo groups against the Tigray elite's nearly 30-year iron-fisted rule. However, his tenure has seen deadly violence between the two groups, and analysts fear that the upcoming parliamentary and municipal elections scheduled for June 5 could exacerbate insecurity.
