Ethiopian civilians massacred in Oromia in recent weeks

According to a statement by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission EHRC, the incident appears to be an ethnically targeted attack. This is the second attack against civilians in the Oromia region in less than a month.

The populations of villages of Mender 20 and Mender 21 in Hawa Gelan in Oromia's Kellem Wollega Zone are mainly of Amhara ethnicity and that residents are hiding elsewhere despite security forces having reached the area, according to the EHRC.

The Shene group, a name for the OLA fleeing security forces, is threatening civilians in the western part of Wollega In the Oromia region, civilians in Kellem Wollega were massacred. Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed tweeted Monday. "We mourned the loss of our citizens."

He said that we will pursue this terrorist group to the end and eliminate it with our people.

The OLA denied the accusations and blamed government militias for the apparent massacre. Two divisions of the ENDF Ethiopian National Defense Force along with allied forces are occupying the towns of Kellem Wollega including Machaara where civilians were killed en masse by the regime's militias as security forces did nothing. Odaa Tarbii, OLA spokesman said Monday that the regime thinks it can point fingers out of the way of accountability, as per Abiy's statement. According to the EHRC, this attack comes less than three weeks after at least 200 civilians were killed by OLA forces in the Oromia region. The OLA denied these accusations and blamed government forces for the massacre. At least 200 civilians killed in western Ethiopia, according to reports and officials. The OLA, which aligned with Tigrayan forces against the federal government last year, was designated as a terrorist organization in 2021 by the Ethiopian government. The group has been accused of attacking civilians and targeting ethnic Amharas. The attacks come amid increasing ethnic tensions across the country in recent years. The continued insecurity in the area and what appears to be the ethnically targeted killing of residents must be put to a stop immediately, said EHRC Chief Commissioner Dr. Daniel Bekele, who repeated the EHRC's call for a ramp up of government security forces to prevent civilian deaths in the region.