Amnesty International has called for an investigation into a massacre of more than 400 Amhara civilians in Ethiopia’s Oromia region last month, citing eyewitnesses who blamed a local rebel group for the killings.
“These horrific killings in Tole, allegedly at the hands of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) reveal its perpetrators’ utter disregard for human life,” Deprose Muchena, Amnesty’s director for East and Southern Africa, said in a statement on Thursday.
“This callous massacre, which also saw women and children lose their lives, must be independently and effectively investigated,” he added.
Ethiopian authorities have blamed the OLA for a number of massacres targeting Amharas, the country’s second-largest ethnic group after the Oromo.
OLA has denied the accusations, saying government-allied militias were responsible for the June 18 massacre in the west of Ethiopia’s most populous region, which has seen an uptick in violence in recent months.
The assault began around 9 am [local time] when armed men allegedly belonging to the OLA surrounded villages in Tole Kebele, according to nine witnesses interviewed by the human rights group.
Although the villagers alerted the authorities after the first bullets were fired, government forces, however; arrived hours after the massacre.
The attackers unleashed a campaign of summary executions of ethnic Amhara, while also looting and burning homes, in claims corroborated by satellite imagery which showed evidence of fires breaking out in the area, Amnesty said.
