Ethiopian security forces in the Oromiya region have executed 39 opposition supporters and arrested thousands of others accused of being members of an armed group, said Amnesty International on Friday.
In a report, the rights group said the victims were accused of supporting the Oromo Liberation Army, the breakaway wing of the Oromo Liberation Front, which the government had previously declared a terrorist movement but which has been unbanned by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
“Security forces have continued to violate human rights despite reforms introduced Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and this is due to widespread impunity and lack of accountability for those violations,” said Amnesty International Ethiopia researcher Fisseha Tekle.
Daniel Bekele, the head of Ethiópia’s human rights commission said Amnesty’s findings “should be taken seriously.”
80 victims and direct witnesses of the violence were interviewed, and the Amnesty’s report said the Ethiopian army and regional security forces in Amhara and Oromiya were involved in inter-ethnic killings, mass arbitrary detentions and rape.
