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Amhara Socieity Network (ASN)

State Sponsored Amhara Genocide

The June 18 Genocide on Amharas' was programmed, authorized, and reinforced by authorities of Oromiya Regional State and federal government. Primarily, the militias of the Kebele who were in charge of keeping the security of the area left the place some days prior to the heinous genocidal attack. Then, open the door to militants of Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) to do the dirty work without any challenge. An eyewitness spoke that, the Gimbi Woreda Administration (where Tole Kebele is located) had been informed in advance that OLA militias had surrounded the kebele. To the contrary, the concerned body of the woreda administration transferred stationed armed forces to a place called Dedesa camp while leaving the Amhara dwellers unprotected.

Meanwhile, there were also concerning evidence that show possible synchronization and conflict of interest flanked by government officials and OLA. For instance, an OLA member Gemechu Ometa is a son of Nigatu Ometa who is the Kebele Administrator. There is also a brotherhood relationship between Abebe Wakoya who is an OLA member and Kidanu Wakoya the Kebele’s security head. These people including the head of government militia office in Tole Kebele left behind the area 3 days ahead of the racial killing. Second, at the time when the massacre was actively underway, the coverage of telecommunication outlets including phone and internet in the area was totally blackout (take into account that Ethio Telecom which is the service provider of national telecommunications, is possessed and ran by the federal government), successfully denying victims any means to alert the entire world regarding their plight.


Photograph of bodies belonging to members of a single family who were killed in the massacre. Names of the victims were as follows: Seyd Dawid (aged 11) (left), Sheikh Dawid Indris (middle), Mohammed Dawid (right).

Sources: https://www.amharaamerica.org


Thirdly, the members of Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and Oromia Special Force (aka Oromiya Liyu Hayil) were not deployed during the course of the 9-hour long racial killing. However, when these forces returned back to the area after the successful massacre happened, they threatened survivor individuals not to record the mass slaughtered dead bodies, the funeral process as well as the mass graves for the reason that the genocide could potentially bring outrage against the local and federal governments.

This latest state sponsored massacre managed by the OLA has been happening side by side to the huge crackdown named “law enforcement operation” against Amharas (particularly to demolish Fano groups). The operation has been led by the coordination of

  1. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

  2. His Oromo Prosperity Party (OPP) and

  3. The Amhara Regional Government [Amhara Prosperity Party (APP)]

As a result, the government acknowledged to the detention of more than twelve thousand Amharas starting from mid-May 2022. Those detained comprise

  • Over 20 journalists from mainstream and social medias

  • 62 opposition political party members

  • Lawyers

  • University professors and

  • Current/ex-government officials

All of the above-mentioned detainees were critical of the Prosperity Party and the government. Moreover, they have been well known to opposing the intermittent massacres that has been systematical made against Amharas. On several occasions, it has been observed that family members of missed targets were also kidnaped to lure out the targets. Accordingly, more than thirty peaceful protesters were murdered by government security forces only in May 2022 in different parts of Amhara Region. Irritated by the intermittent and coordinated crackdown operations on dissenting voices and genocides, Ethiopians in general and the Amhara community in particular are requesting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to step down and leave office. Furthermore, they demand an independent international inquiry to be carried out into the continuing state-sponsored genocide against ethnic Amharas' in different parts of Oromiya.

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