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Account of the Recent Genocide in
the Tole Locality of Wellega, Western Ethiopia
This report has been compiled and written by Mrs. Genet
Asmamaw, a journalist.
Translation of the compiled text from Amharic into English by
Assefa Negash, M.D.
Amsterdam, Holland – the 25 th of June 2022
E-mail address: Debesso@gmail.com
“Let All Human Beings Listen to this”
A resident of Tole said “I swear in the name of Allah” and added that “the
administrator of the Tole locality or village Mr. Nigatu Ummeta, said he
had organized and undertaken massacre of Amara civilians on the
instruction of officials in the upper echelons of the power hierarchy of the
regional administration (of the Oromo Regional state)”. The administrator
of the Tole Mr. Negatu Ummeta (an ethnic Oromo) and the head of the
Militia office of Tole village Mr. Kidane Merwa (an ethnic Oromo) have
publicly revealed the truth about the genocide four days after they have
been imprisoned by the Federal Ethiopian army. According to Mr.
Negatu Ummeta, Mr. Batcha, the administrator of the Gimbi district and
the head of the Peace and Security office of the same district called him
by phone and instructed him to carry out genocide against the Amara
inhabitants of the Tole village.
Mr. Negatu Ummeta said that Mr. Batcha and the head of the Peace &
Security office of Gimbi district told him that “our army (i.e. the Oromo
Liberation Army or OLA otherwise dubbed OLF Shene by the incumbent
regime) has an operation which it would carry out on Saturday (the 18 th
of June 2022) and they (these two officials of Gimbi district) have
instructed me to accord the army (of the Oromo Liberation Front) the
necessary support and cooperation”. According to Mr. Negatu Ummeta,
Mr. Batcha and the head of the Security Office of Gimbi district told him
that the Oromo Liberation Army would enter the Tole village on
Thursday the 16 th of June 2022. Further these two officials of the Gimbi
district instructed Mr. Negatu Ummeta, Mr. Kidane Merwa and Sergeant
Assefa to remove the local police and militia members from the Tole
village on Thursday the 16 th of June 2022.
Mr. Negatu and his colleagues were ordered to slaughter a big bull for
the Oromo Liberation Army soldiers and said that they did that as they
were instructed to do. Mr. Negatu Ummeta said that the Tole village top
administrators along with the security forces of Tole village left the
village on Thursday the 16 th of June 2022 and stayed the night in an area
not far from Tole village. After the Oromo Liberation Army entered the
Tole village on Thursday the 16 th of June, this army was gorging itself on
the meat of the slaughtered bull and Oromo Liberation Army soldiers
were dancing the whole night. Mr. Negatu Ummeta said that on Friday
the 17 th of June 2022, Tole village was turned into a place where there
was no government structure and added that given that the village is big,
he (Mr. Negatu Ummeta) and other officials of the village changed their
role and joined the Oromo Liberation Army thereby besieging the Amara
civilian inhabitants of Tole village.
According to Mr. Negatu Ummeta (administrator of Tole village), the
head administrator of Gimbi district Mr. Bacha and the head of the
Security office of Gimbi district who were following each movement of
the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) called him by phone on Friday the 17 th
of June and instructed him that the massacre or mayhem of Amaras
(members of one of the two major ethnic groups of Ethiopia) should start
at 8 AM local time on Saturday the 18 th of June 2022 and end after 8
hours. Mr. Negatu Ummeta said that when the officials administering the
Gimbi district were calling me by phone, other officials of Tole village
were also present with me and they have disguised themselves like me
and joined hands with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). Mr. Nigatu
Ummeta said that in accordance with the order of Mr. Batcha (the Gimbi
district administrator) we carried out genocide on Amaras on Saturday
the 18 th of June 2022. The genocide started at 8 AM local time and it
continued for 8 consecutive hours.
Few Amaras resisted in self-defense and wounded our soldiers (soldiers
of the Oromo Liberation Army). Subsequently, an ambulance car was
sent to carry wounded soldiers of the Oromo Liberation Army and was
transporting the OLA soldiers to Gimbi hospital the whole day. Mr.
Negatu Ummeta said that on Saturday 18 th of June 2022 at 2 PM they
were informed that the Federal Army soldiers were coming to Gimbi and
as such they were instructed to stop or halt the genocide. Then Mr.
Negatu Ummeta and the Oromo Liberation Army he joined retreated to
the forest. Subsequently I (Mr. Negatu Ummeta) and my colleagues
changed our clothes and returned to the Tole village by disguising
ourselves as peaceful individuals. Mr. Negatu Ummeta confessed this in
front of the public after the Federal Army arrived at the village.
The head of the Militia office of Tole village Mr. Kidane Merwam likewise
repeated what the administrator of Tole village Mr. Negatu Ummeta has
confessed earlier. Eye witnesses said that the Amaras who survived the
genocide directed at them were shocked and cried out in disbelief after
having heard the account/confession of Mr. Negatu and Mr. Kidma
Merwam. Although the Ethiopian Federal army and the Oromia Special
Force (armed soldiers composed of Oromos in the area) are at the area
at this time the Oromo Special Forces (this is a special force composed
of soldiers armed by the Oromia Regional State and are officially
answerable to it) have opposed the rounding up the of the perpetrators
or killers.
When the perpetrators of genocide against Amaras were rounded up
and imprisoned, the Oromo Special Force members opposed this
process and cried out. The Amara survivors said that the Oromo Special
Forces are saddened by the rounding up of the perpetrators of genocide
against Amaras but do not show any sign of grief about the massacred
Amaras. An eye witness who said that the Ethiopian Federal Army is at
loggerheads with the Oromo Special Forces, added that those who went
to the forest (the Oromo Liberation Army soldiers) and the Oromo
Regional State officials based in the area are the same when it comes to
the perpetuation of genocide on Amaras.
Those who survived the genocide are out on the fields (without shelter).
They have nothing to eat now. Even those Amaras who have some
money with them cannot leave the area by car because there is no
transport service as the chauffeurs themselves have refused to transport
them (it seems that these Oromo chauffeurs have turned back their back
on them by identifying or siding with the genocide perpetrators i.e. the
Oromo Liberation Army).
Some 3000 Amaras who have fled from Tole village and have moved to
the Gimbi area after their displacement, have not been able to buy food
and feed themselves with the small amount money they have got. This is
because they could not find anyone trader or businessman that was
willing to sell them food. A resident of the area said that he and others
have been told that Amaras cannot live in this area. He added that we
the survivors call on everyone to save our lives and help us get out of
here (the Western Oromia region of Wellega) and to at least reach Addis
Ababa (the capital city).
A surviving Amara resident said that up to now, he has buried 20
children after digging a burial*** grave for them. Some of these children
were slaughtered, some killed by bullets, some burned alive and their
bodies thrown out on the fields. Among the 20 children whom this Amara
survivor buried by himself, figured a child who was just 20 days old. This
Amara survivor added that at Tole Gutin village alone an Oromo army
numbering no less than ten thousand and armed with machine guns and
Bren machine guns had perpetrated genocide on the Amaras.
———————————End of Translated Text———————————
—
Translator’s Note:
The additional text put in parenthesis has been added by the translator
to clarify points in the translated text. It is important for non-Ethiopian
readers to understand the contextual background that led to the Amara
genocide that resulted in the massacre of more than 1500 Amara
civilians in a space of a few hours. The Ethiopian constitution does not
recognize Ethiopian citizenship & has created an ethnic federal state
based on ethno-linguistic criteria that denies the basic human rights of
an individual citizen of Ethiopia. This system has created two types of
Ethiopians i.e. the so-called indigenous ethnic groups and settlers. This
has in turn created a polarized political environment in which the ethnic
other, who is regarded as non-indigenous to the ethnically crafted
regional states, is seen as an anomalous creature who has to be
ethnically cleansed from the newly created ethnic regions that consider
him alien.
*** Traditionally, burial is a respectable process that is accompanied by
a burial ritual in which people in the community come together to pay
their last respect to the deceased person in a dignified way that befits a
human being. Today, this age-old and highly prized Ethiopian tradition
has been denied to Amaras (both Christians and Muslim Amaras) whose
bodies were left to wild animals and vultures to feast on. This is another
aspect of the dehumanization process to which the Amaras dotted in all
nooks and crannies of Ethiopia outside the so-called Amara regional
state are exposed in present-day Ethiopia. What is mind boggling is the
fact that the incumbent regime led by Abiy Ahmed has suppressed any
public discussion about the genocide that targeted Amara civilians. The
chairman of the parliament has denied a honorable member of
parliament from putting on the agenda of the parliament the genocide
that claimed the lives of more than 1500 hundreds of innocent Amara
civilians. What is even more disturbing is the deeply insensitive attitude
of prime minister Abiy who was engaged in the diversionary tactic of tree
planting while thousands of innocent Amaras including pregnant women
were disemboweled in a gruesome manner. A three days old Amara
baby was among the victims of the genocidal killings that targeted poor
Amara civilians in the Tole locality of Wellega, in western Ethiopia. The
degree to which the incumbent regime led by Abiy Ahmed tried to
suppress the genocide perpetrated against Amaras by
suppressing/blocking any discussion of the genocide both in parliament
and in government-controlled media. This throws light on the degree to
which the genocide that targeted Amaras is symptomatic of a systemic
and structural violence that has continued to target the Amaras as
people since May 1991 and has increased by leaps and bounds during
the last 4 years following the assumption of power by an ultra-
nationalist/fascist regime led by Abiy Ahmed.
