Oromiya region - The African Mirror

Dec

03

2023

Ethiopia’s Oromiya region accuses OLA rebels of killing ‘many’ people

THE government of Ethiopia's largest region, Oromiya, accused the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel group of killing "many civilians" in attacks that followed the failure of peace talks in Tanzania. At least 36 people were killed when unidentified attackers struck three villages in Oromiya's Shirka district on November 24 and 27, residents told Reuters. Hailu Adugna, the Oromiya region's spokesman, blamed the attacks on the OLA, an outlawed splinter group of a formerly proscribed opposition party that returned from exile in 2018. "The terror group is committing brutal acts on civilians because it is now very anxious," Hailu told the…

Feb

17

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian Orthodox Church reaches deal with breakaway Oromo synod

RELIGION

GIULIA PARAVICINI THE influential Ethiopian Orthodox Church said it had agreed with a breakaway synod from the Oromiya region following deadly violence that killed dozens and led to partial internet shutdowns. The rift threatened to bring fresh instability to Africa's second most populous nation, just as its starts to turn the page on a two-year war in the northern Tigray region that killed tens of thousands before a truce was agreed upon in November. The row started on February 4, when three clerics from Oromiya accused the leadership of the main church of discriminating against Oromos, the country's largest ethnic group. They…

Feb

17

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia commission accuses Oromiya rebels of killing 50 people

NEWS

AT least 50 people were killed in Ethiopia's Oromiya region this month in an attack by a banned rebel group, the state-appointed human rights commission said. Oromiya is home to Ethiopia's largest ethnic group and has experienced unrest for many years, rooted in grievances about political marginalisation and neglect by the central government. The killings on February 2 mainly targeted internally displaced persons in the town of Ano, about 380 km (235 miles) west of the capital Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said in a report. The report, which cited families of the victims, witnesses and government…

Jul

01

2022

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia blames militia for killing 338 people in Oromiya region in June

NEWS

ABOUT 340 people were killed in an attack in the western part of Ethiopia's Oromiya region earlier this month, the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said, blaming a militia formerly allied to an opposition party. Oromiya, home to Ethiopia's largest ethnic group and others, has experienced unrest for many years, rooted in grievances about political marginalisation and neglect by the central government. On June 18 gunmen killed at least 200 people in the Gimbi district of Western Wollega Zone, according to two local witnesses who helped bury the bodies. "Per data I have received from the Oromiya region yesterday, the number of…

Jul

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Tigray forces enter neighbouring Afar

NEWS

DAWIT ENDERSHAW and MAGGIE RICK Forces from Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have mounted attacks in the neighbouring Afar region, a spokesman for Afar said on Monday, marking an expansion of an eight-month-old conflict into a previously untouched area. Tigrayan fighters crossed into Afar on Saturday and Afar forces and allied militias were still fighting them on Monday, Afar spokesman Ahmed Koloyta said. "Now (Ethiopian military forces) are on their way and we will work with them to eliminate (the Tigrayan forces)," he said. Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigrayan forces, confirmed they had been fighting over the weekend in…

Jul

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Support for Ethiopia army, Amhara against Tigray forces

NEWS

DAWIT ENDESHAW THREE more Ethiopian regions are sending soldiers to reinforce the national army in its fight against forces from the northern region of Tigray, regional officials said, widening a conflict that has so far largely affected the north. Officials from Oromiya, Sidama, and the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples' Region said their forces had joined the army, known as the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF), which withdrew from most of Tigray late in June. A fourth region, Amhara, has already been locked in conflict with Tigray since the war erupted in November. Both Amhara and Tigray claim the fertile…

May

09

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Children held in dire conditions Ethiopia’

NEWS

THE Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has revealed that police from the Oromiya region are holding a large number of detainees, including babies and children, without charge, in "unhygienic and overcrowded" police stations across the region. The state-appointed commission said children aged between 5 months and 10 years were being held along with their mothers, and that children as young as 9 were suspected of offenses and held with adult prisoners. Detainees in the region, which is in central Ethiopia and like other regions has some autonomy from the central government in running matters such as law enforcement and education, are…

Apr

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Gunmen kill 30 people in Ethiopia

NEWS

GUNMEN killed 30 people in an attack on a village in the west of the Ethiopian region of Oromiya late on Tuesday, witnesses said. Clashes between ethnic groups have become a major challenge to the government in the country, which took its present form from territorial expansions of the 19th century. Regional officials in Oromiya did not immediately comment on who was behind the killings in the western Wollega Zone of Oromiya. In the past they have blamed similar attacks on an armed group called OLF Shane. Wossen Andarege, a farmer in the area, said that those who survived the…

Apr

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Gunmen kill 30 people in attack in western Ethiopia

NEWS

GUNMEN killed 30 people in an attack on a village in the west of the Ethiopian region of Oromiya late on Tuesday, witnesses said. Clashes between ethnic groups have become a major challenge to the government in the country, which took its present form from territorial expansions of the 19th century. Regional officials in Oromiya did not immediately comment on who was behind the killings in the western Wollega Zone of Oromiya. In the past they have blamed similar attacks on an armed group called OLF Shane. Wossen Andarege, a farmer in the area, said that those who survived the…

Oct

03

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia region arrests 503 on feared violence at weekend festival

NEWS

DAWIT ENDESHAW POLICE in Ethiopia's Oromiya region have arrested 503 people on accusations they planned to cause violence during an annual thanksgiving festival this weekend and seized guns and hand grenades, the state-run news agency reported. State-affiliated Fana Broadcasting also reported on Friday that police and intelligence services had foiled what they said were plans to incite violence in Addis Ababa and other parts of Ethiopia ahead of the Irreecha festival of the Oromo, the country's largest ethnic group. The latest arrests happened a week after Ethiopia's attorney general said about 2,000 people had been charged over deadly violence after…