NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Ethiopian security forces killed more than 75 people and injured about 200 during deadly ethnic riots in June and July following the killing of a popular singer, the Commission said on Friday. Human Rights of Ethiopia.
The commission’s report states that 123 people died and at least 500 were injured amid one of the country’s worst outbreaks of ethnic violence in years, a “widespread and systematic attack” on civilians pointing to crimes against humanity. Some victims were beheaded, tortured or dragged through the streets by the attackers.
Ethnic violence is a major challenge for Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has urged national unity among more than 80 ethnic groups in Africa’s second most populous country.
The June and July riots followed the assassination of singer Hachalu Hundessa, who had been a prominent voice in anti-government protests that led Abiy to take office in 2018 and announce radical political reforms. However, these reforms paved the way for ethnic and other grievances to manifest.
The commission found that, amid street protests after Hachalu’s death, “civilians were attacked in their homes by individual and grouped perpetrators and were beaten and killed in the streets cruelly and cruelly with sticks, knives , axes, sharp iron bars, stones and electric cables “.
More than 6,000 people were displaced and at least 900 properties looted, burned or vandalized, according to the report. The attacks often targeted Amhara or Orthodox Christians.
“While it is understandable that the security forces would have the difficult task of restoring order in the face of such widespread violence, the proportionality of the force employed in some contexts is highly questionable,” the report said.
As an example, in several communities, “the commission found that there were dead people with gunshot wounds to the head, shot in the chest area or in the back. People who did not take part in the protests (passers-by, passers-by watching from their doors, young people, elderly people trying to mediate, people with mental illnesses and even police officers) also lost their lives.
In other cases, the commission found that “local authorities and security did not respond to repeated calls for help from the victims, instead saying that” senior officials did not give any orders to intervene. ” .. Survivors and witnesses also explain how sometimes the police were watching as the attacks took place. “
Some watchdogs have warned of a return to repressive measures in Ethiopia as authorities face hate speech and ethnic violence.
The unrest was unrelated to the conflict in the northern Ethiopian Tigray region, which began in early November, but was another sign of tensions affecting the country’s 110 million people. in the heart of the Horn of Africa.
A spokeswoman for Abyy’s office did not immediately comment on the report and the commission did not say what the government’s response had been. Interviews with government officials and security figures were part of the commission’s investigation, which also involved visiting about 40 communities.
The commission said it found no evidence of “ongoing efforts to investigate the use of force by security agents during the riots and to hold accountable those who caused unnecessary human suffering.”
The report noted that “crimes against this humanity combined with the current national context are signs that the risk of atrocities, including genocide, is increasing” and called for investigations, justice and “an institutional and lasting solution to growing trend towards discrimination and attacks on minorities “.