Kalkidan Yibeltal
Wednesday August 16, 2023
Residents and opposition groups have accused government troops in Ethiopia’s largest Oromia region of killing multiple civilians as the army continues to battle militias in another region - Amhara.
Family members of victims in West Shoa told the BBC’s Afaan Oromoo service that at least 10 civilians including four members of a family were killed by government forces.
The BBC’s attempts to get a response from the regional government have not been successful.
A resident, Ararsa Yadesa, said four members of his family and two farm workers in his village were killed in a single incident.
The armed group, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), widely operates in the area. However, Mr Ararsa said there had been no fighting between OLA and government forces prior to the attack.
In another incident, a university student said he and three other young people were taken by security forces from their village and only he managed to survive after the security forces opened fire on them.
Two opposition parties, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) have accused the government of unlawful killings, mass arrests and human rights abuses in West Shoa.
The groups put the number of deaths at 11.
It comes as the government faces widespread resistance from armed militias in the country’s second-largest Amhara region.
While relative normalcy continues in Amhara’s biggest cities after intense urban combat last week, militias still say they control small towns and villages.