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By Staff Reporter
October 10, 2020 (Ezega.com) – Gunmen killed at least 14 innocent people once again in the Guba and Dangur districts of the Benishangul Gumuz regional state in western Ethiopia amid tight security measures.
The region’s Chief of Peace and Security, Gashu Duga, confirmed the shooting of 14 people between October 6 and 7 in the two districts by an armed group. He said that several members of the “bandits” were killed or apprehended in counterattacks by joint government forces.
The head said that five Kalashnikovs and ten old rifles were seized. It is unclear why the high presence of the security forces in two and four other districts of the region failed to defend the victims.
Human rights groups and opposition political parties accused the government of failing to protect the ethnic Amhara, Agew and Shinasha people in the volatile region.
Gunmen have killed more than 100 people since four months in the Metekel area of the region that fell under military rule for more than a year.
In the middle of last month, the Ethiopian National Defense Force dismissed reports that it deployed troops too late to stop targeted killings in the Metekel area.
At the end of last month, the federal government fired at least 40 officials in the regional state for alleged links to the armed group.
Meanwhile, an anti-government demonstration will take place in Ethiopia’s Oromia region on Friday, October 9, 2020, demanding the government to resign and form an interim government.
The rally was called online by anti-government forces abroad and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which claimed that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government is no longer legitimate to rule the nation.
In a video message, former Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) leader Dawud Ibssa called on the people of Oromia and other ethnic people in the region to join forces to overthrow the ruling government.
“We, the peoples of the nation, would enter into endless chaos if the opportunity to establish a transitional government is missed now.” The chaos would affect not only the people of Oromo but others who live in the region, ”Dawud said.
Colonel Abebe Geresu, an adviser to the Oromia Security Office, described the former president’s call as “nonsense.”
“We cannot arrest suspects based on information they posted on social media and Dawud would be brought to justice like his colleagues if the message incites unrest in the region,” Abebe added.
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