Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission has reported that gunmen have killed more than 100 people in a dawn attack in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia.
The attack occurred in the village of Bekoji in Bulen county in the Metekel zone, the state-run Commission said in a statement, an area where multiple ethnic groups are living.
Africa’s second-most populous nation has already facing regular outbreaks of deadly violence since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointment in 2018 lead to accelerated democratic reforms that loosened the state’s iron grip on regional rivalries.
Elections due next year have further inflamed simmering tensions over land, power and resources.
In a separate part of the country, Ethiopia’s military has been fighting rebels in the northern Tigray region for more than six weeks in a conflict that has displaced close to 950,000 people.
The deployment of federal troops there has raised fears of a security vacuum in other restive regions.
Ethiopia is also experiencing unrest in the Oromia region and faces long-running security threats from Somali fighters along its eastern border.
Gashu Dugaz, a senior regional security official, told reporters that authorities were aware of the Benishangul-Gumuz attack and are verifying the identities of the attackers and the victims, but did not give further information.
The region is home to several ethnic groups including the Gumuz people.
But in recent years, farmers and businessmen from the neighbouring Amhara region have begun moving into the area, prompting some Gumuz to complain that fertile land has been taken.
Some Amhara leaders are now saying some of the lands in the region, especially in the Metekel zone rightfully belongs to them, claims that have angered Gumuz people.
“In previous attacks, it was people who came from ‘the forest’ who were involved but, in this case, victims said they knew the people involved in the attack,” the rights commission said in its statement.
Belay Wajera, a farmer in the western town of Bulen, told reporters he counted 82 dead bodies in a field near his home after the raid.
He and his family awoke to the sound of gunshots and ran out of their home as men shouted “catch them.” His wife and five of his children were shot dead, he was shot in the buttocks while four other children escaped and are now missing, he said.
Another resident of the town, Hassen Yimama, said armed men stormed the area at about 6am local time (03:00 GMT).
He said he counted 20 bodies in a different location. He grabbed his own weapon but attackers shot him in the stomach.
The attack came a day after Prime Minister Abiy, the Military Chief of Staff and other senior federal officials visited the region to urge calm after several deadly incidents in recent months, such as a November 14 assault in which attackers targeted a bus and killed 34 people.
“The desire by enemies to divide Ethiopia along ethnic and religious lines still exists. This desire will remain unfulfilled,” Abiy tweeted after the visit along with photos of his meetings that day in the town of Metekel, near where the November 14 attack occurred.
He said residents’ wish for peace “outweighs any divisive agenda”.
