Over the last four years, members of the Amhara ethnic group have incessantly faced genocide, crimes against humanity, and internal displacements.
BACKGROUND
The global Amhara movement is about demanding justice by holding perpetrators accountable. The people of Amhara have been living in misery for more than 47 years, first during the communist military dictatorship for 17 years and then under this ethno-fascist government for over 30 years. Especially the last 4 years, which were proclaimed to be years of reform after the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) led coalition EPRDF government claimed to have been reformed into the Prosperity Party, where people believed an actual reform was on-going whereas the reality was that the prosperity government did not reform and still practicesthe same policy as that of the deposed TPLF led dictatorship government, and unfortunately the only visible change was that the previously TPLF dominated coalition is now dominated by the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) led dictatorship which resulted in Amharas being annihilated, massacred and exterminated in various areas of the country. This is a practical showcase that an ethnic based politics can never be reformed whoever is at the helm of the system. The whole system is based on pitting one ethnic group against the other.
The current regime uses the same playbook as the TPLF regime which is continuing to divide Ethiopians along ethnic lines as long as it keeps them in power. This is a uniquely hazardous time for Amharas as TPLF is currently threatening to wage their 3rd round invasion while the government has openly started hunting down Amharas who tried to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide. The government is now undertaking what it labeled “law enforcement operation” and is killing, maiming, torturing and abducting people. They detained over 15,000 people, most detainees are held in unknown or undisclosed locations. The majority of these detained people were vocal in exposing the unfair treatment of Amhara people in Ethiopia, and were consistentlyworking to expose the ongoing genocide against Amharas. In a shocking revelation, right after the rounding up of these thousands of human rights defenders, journalists and human rights activists, 1,500 ethnic Amharas were slaughtered in the most barbaric way on June 18, 2022 in Gimbi District, West Wollega Zone, Oromo Region (State), Ethiopia. While these are confirmed and counted bodies, the survivors stated that the final death toll could rise up to 3,000 as there are still bodies all over the attack sites that are neither counted nor buried. In a very heartbreaking turn of events, the attacks continued hunting down survivors who exposed what is happening to the world.
As expressed above, before the government started the current mass arrest operation in mid-May, 2022, there were already multiple acts of genocide being committed against Amharas in Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz, and SNNP Regions. Since, no structural, legal or political change occurred ever since, we fear that the attacks will continue unabated! The current hotspot of the genocide against Amharas are: in West Wollega, East Wollega, and Horo-gurduru Zones of the so-called Oromia Region; in the North Showa of Amhara region by Oromo extremistforces backed by Oromia regional government; in Metekel Zone of BSG Region by Oromo extremist forces and Gumuz liberation fighters, in Raya area of Amhara Region as well as in Telemt and Tegede districts of Amhara Region by TPLF invaders, and in the Amhara region by the Amhara regional government that does not represent Amharas and is being used as a tool by the different perpetrators of Amhara genocide in Ethiopia.
Currently, of all the above-mentioned hotspots, East and West Wollega and Horo guduru zones are the most deadly for Amharas, there are 70,000 Amharas that are under siege. These people are begging to be given a safe passage out of these genocide fields. Among the 70,000 ethnic Amharas under siege, 6,000 of them are in the exact situation of where the 3,700 people that were already massacred were. They are surrounded and being taunted to be killed, the only thing that is between their death and them is the moment at which the local government administrators strategically ‘leave the area for official purpose’. There is already a confession from one of the rural districts where these massacres took place that the local government officials were ordered to leave the area just before the OLA forces came in and mercilessly massacred ethnic Amharas including month’s old babies and senior citizens.
There is currently a wave of protests starting to take place in Ethiopia especially in Amhara region and the capital city Addis Ababa specifically in universities. Sadly the government has deployed their killer federal forces to forcibly disband these civil protests that came together to denounce the horrific killings of ethnic Amharas!
Two Amhara women and one man are conducting hunger strike since July 20, 2022 in protest of the genocide being committed against Amharas. It is the hidden Genocide for the global community. But, for Ethiopians this Genocide has been going intensely in the last four years. Now it has reached its peak level because every week hundreds of Amharas are being slaughtered like animals becuse they belong to this particular ethic group. How can a world in this digital age simply forget these kinds of barbarous acts against innocent people when they are being committed in broad day light in full view of the public and with overwhelming recorded evidences ( print, video, audio and living witnesses.)
RESOLUTIONS
- We demand the UK government to respond to the hunger strikers demand and take urgent action to stop Amhara Genocide.
- We demand the release of all unlawfully detained innocent Amhara journalists, media
personalities, human right defenders, lawyers and their advocates without any preconditions. - We demand cessation of prosecution, arrest and killings of Fanno public forces and their families.
- We demand to uphold the rule of law, freedom of press and democracy.
- We call upon the international community to support Amharas & other Ethiopians in holding the perpetrators of the recent massacres in Wollega, and all previous acts of genocide against Amharas accountable and to bring them to Justice.
- Call upon the international community to hold the Abiy regime and the administrators of the so-called Oromo and other regions where acts of genocide were committed against Amharas accountable.
- Call upon for the international community to facilitate the necessary diplomatic and legal pathways to open a case against all officials who collaborated with the perpetrators of the genocide against Amharas at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- We are demanding the United Nation to intervene and stop the state Amhara Genocide in Ethiopia and provide humanitarian support for 20 Million Amhara displaced by Oromo-Tigray extremists and Abiy Ahmed government in Ethiopia