Unidentified gunmen raided a village in the western region of Ethiopia last Tuesday and killed at least 80 people in what was called an ethnic massacre by witnesses and the country’s human rights commission.
The killings occurred as the country is embroiled in a conflict in its Tigray region during an effort by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to consolidate power.
As we have reported, Tigray has traditionally held a lot of sway in the country of 110 million, ruling the nation for the last three decades.
Ahmed’s government blamed Tigray leadership for violating “the constitution and endangering the constitutional system.” He launched the major offense because Tigray held its election in September without approval, despite a countrywide voting ban allegedly due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Ahmed was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending the country’s conflict with Eritrea, and he has spoken about bringing the country and its ethnic enclaves together.
Since the war began, thousands of civilians have been killed, and over 50,000 Ethiopians have fled into bordering Sudan.
Getting Worse
The New York Times reported the latest massacre occurred in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, which sits on the country’s border with Sudan.
Ethnic militias have also formed across the Tigray region and have taken part in campaigns of rape, looting, and killing, according to reports from the country. The conflict in Tigray has extended federal forces.
The Times reported the military resources of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital region, are being spent fighting in Tigray, and troops that normally would be able to defend vulnerable villages are deployed elsewhere. The paper described a chilling scene that left women and children dead in the streets with “horrific wounds.”
Witnesses of the carnage in the village of Daletti told The Times that the attackers were from the Gumuz ethnic group and most of those killed were ethnic Amhras and Agaws, who are a minority in the area. After the bloodshed, homes were burned to the ground, and witnesses told the paper an old man was beheaded.
The area had been hit with earlier ethnic attacks, which prompted Ahmed to visit the area in December. But two days after he left, a hundred more were killed in an armed attack, the paper reported, citing human rights groups.
TRENDPOST: As Gerald Celente has long noted, “When all else fails, they take you to war.”
While Ethiopia’s economy had been steadily growing and was strong, the COVID War has severely damaged it.
The World Bank reported that 42 percent of the country’s businesses have closed and 37 percent reported no revenue in March or April. Indeed, as the “Greatest Depression” worsens, economic conditions will deteriorate and civil unrest, which had been quelled, will escalate.
And, the more tensions rise, the more people in this highly-populated nation will seek refuge in safe-haven European nations, which will, in turn, boost populist political party movements throughout the Eurozone.
