ARDUF condemns state-instigated inter-ethnic violence in Gambella

ARDUF Press Release
Like most of Ethiopians it is with deep shock and concern that we learned of the detestable killings and gross human rights violations in the recent weeks instigated by TPLF/EPRDF dictatorial regime between the two peace loving communities in the Gambella Region of Western Ethiopia, which is escalating day by day into killings on the basis of merely ethnic identity. ARDUF together with all peace-loving peoples of Ethiopia condemns the on-going crimes against humanity being committed by TPLF/EPRDF regime against Ethiopian civilians in the regions of Oromia, Ogaden, Amhara and the Afar and all four corners of the of the country. This instigation in Gambella region is nothing but only a miniature scenario and part of a scheme Woyane regime that is planning to foment hostility among all peoples of our country in order to horrify all Ethiopians into obedience once its hegemony is under threat.
ARDUF expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families and to the Peoples of Anuak and the Nuer who have lost their family members and calls on the community elders to find an immediate solution to the violence as the state which was supposed to stop inter-communal violence is the chief culprit itself. We unequivocally condemn in the strongest possible terms the horrifying crimes of killings, displacement and forcible removal from their ancestral land committed by TPLF regime on the Anuak and Nuer communities in the State of Gambella. TPLF/EPRDF regime is not only systematically instigating ethnic violence and conflicts between the Nuer and the Anuak people of Gambella but also among the peoples of Ethiopia as an instrument of divide-and-rule as well as to impose Tigray ethnic hegemonic control and discriminatory rule forcibly over the peoples of Ethiopia in general.
For the last twenty four years, TPLF/EPRDF regime has been repeatedly engaged and involved in implementing murder, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution, forcible transfer, sexual violence and of other inhumane acts against the innocent peoples of Ethiopian in the regions of Gambella, Oromia, Ogaden, Afar, Amhara and Sidama. Recently instigated inter-ethnic violence in the State of Gambella was a deliberately masterminded and implemented plan by TPLF/EPRDF regime to destroy in substantial part of the Anuak community which is seen as an obstacle in their anti-Ethiopia destruction on account of their ethnicity. Today, the Peoples of Ethiopia live in conditions of segregation, marginalization and desperation and face starvation and death situations, due to TPLF ruling system based on fear and with an iron fist and denial of basic fundamental rights to the peoples.
ARDUF Organization calls on international community to pressure on the regime to stop unlawful judicial killings and to send a fact finding independent international investigators to investigate the crimes committed by TPLF/EPRDF regime and those found responsible to be held fully accountable. The civil war in South Sudan that is not only demographically changing the region but also fuelling the spiral of violence and senseless loss of lives in this party of Western Ethiopia must find a durable solution. Till then the refugees from Southern Sudan must be accommodated in separated camps allocated to them to maintain the peace and security in the region of Gambella.
All of us must take this government instigated violence as in the Western corner of our country as a warning alarm for inter-ethnic turmoil that this regime can ignite in any party of our country. Therefore, ARDUF urges Ethiopian opposition groups and peace loving Ethiopian peoples to reject and denounce the politics of fear and rule by an iron fist of TPLF/EPRDF but also heed the lesson from such violence that can develop into war-of-all-against-all type of killings by identity and therefore intensify the armed struggle to hasten the down fall of the TPLF/EPRDF fascist regime and to establish on its ruins a genuine federal system based on the rule of law before it is too late.
Long live the Victory of ARDUF & Ethiopian Peoples
Military Command Centre (MCC)
Information Desk of ARDUF
Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (ARDUF)