ዓለም አቀፍ ትብብር ለኢትዮጵያውያን መብት
Global Alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians (GARE)
PO Box 1836, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741 Telephone: (877) 477-2544 www.globalethiopia.org
info@globalethiopia.org
All Lives Have Equal Value
For immediate release: November 3rd, 2020.
GARE expresses its condolences to the families massacred senselessly by the terrorist Oromo Liberation Army and its extremist allies pre-identifying, deliberately targeting and slaughtering Amhara and Orthodox Christians in a cycle of ethnic cleansing and genocide, the latest on November 1, in Gawa Qagna village, Gulusio District, Wellega, Oromia. GARE condemns these atrocities.
GARE finds no plausible explanation why federal defense forces exited this conflict-prone and terrorist hub, left innocent civilians, including children and the elderly exposed. This abrupt departure practically allowed the OLA to commit heinous crimes against humanity. The massacres occurred hours after federal forces left.
GARE believes that the Federal Government of Ethiopia led by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed has practically failed to defend the safety and security of the Ethiopian people, especially the Amhara, Orthodox Christians and other minorities residing in Oromia and Beni-Shangul Gumuz where recurrent ethnic cleansing and genocide has taken place.
GARE is deeply concerned that lack of quick, bold and consistent intervention by federal authorities against extremist, terrorist and jihadist groups including the OLA and the TPLF, both identified as terrorists in the past, poses imminent threat to targeted civilians. It is time for Abiy Ahmed’s Government to identify OLA and others as terrorist groups; and to seek concurrence from the United Nations and the African Union.
GARE upholds the principle that the Federal Government of Ethiopia is solely responsible and accountable for the safety and security of the Ethiopian people, including Amhara, Orthodox Christians and other minorities who reside in any part of Ethiopia.
GARE agrees with the Ethiopian people that the Federal Government of Ethiopia must take immediate and bold measures against those who committed genocide and ethnic cleansing as well as those who are complicit in these crimes ; and hold all culprits accountable in a court of law.
Further, GARE demands that the Federal Government of Ethiopia led by Prime Minister Abiy acknowledge to the public and or take the following steps immediately:
- Accept the notion that the federal government has failed to defend and protect the safety and security of innocent civilians, most notably Amhara, Orthodox Christians and other minorities.
- Immediately identify and remove from office local, regional and federal officials who are either complicit in ethnic cleansing and genocide or who failed to defend and protect the safety and security of innocent civilians within their jurisdictions; and hold culprits accountable in a court of law.
- Identify the OLA and its allied extremist groups as terrorist; seek concurrence from the UN and the African Union; and take punitive measures against financial and other assets of terrorist groups.
- Establish and empower a high level independent and impartial commission with lead responsibility to investigate ethnic cleansing and genocide in Wellega and other locations with the objective of prosecuting those involved in horrendous crimes against humanity and in holding them accountable in a court of law at the earliest opportunity.
ዓለም አቀፍ ትብብር ለኢትዮጵያውያን መብት
Global Alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians (GARE)
PO Box 1836, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741 Telephone: (877) 477-2544 www.globalethiopia.org
info@globalethiopia.org
All Lives Have Equal Value
- Make a public commitment to compensate victims of ethnic cleansing and genocide ; to resettle those who have been displaced; and to provide federal defense and security services to defend the safety and security of Amhara, Orthodox Christian and other minority communities without delay.
GARE calls on the Ethiopian people to demand accountability from all levels of government; urges the Amhara, Oromo, Tigrean, Somali, Annuak and other ethnic groups of Ethiopia to engage constructively and creatively with one another; avert the imminent danger of wholesale Rwanda and Bosnia like massacre; and prevent the Balkanization of Ethiopia.
Finally, GARE urges the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights to:
- Deploy special rapporteurs to Ethiopia and investigate human rights abuses and grievances in general and recurrent ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Amhara and Orthodox Christians in particular as soon as possible.
- Ask the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to consider intervention by the International Criminal Court; and bring perpetrators of crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Ethiopia so that the noble cause of justice is realized