April 2019 marked one-year anniversary for Dr. Abiy Ahmed as Ethiopia’s Prime Minister. What does that mean for the Benishangul people and why is it of concern to us? The Prime Minister wrapped his first year performance by violating the Benishangul people’s rights in all aspects. The Prime Minister has failed to restore peace and security in the country. This has angered him, causing him to vent his wrath on the Benishangul people. Although they are the only peaceful nation in the entire country; they have not equipped themselves with guns (unarmed). These values of peace loving and being armless are what distinguish the Benishangul people. However, it has been taken by others as a weakness. These values have encouraged the followers of the Prime Minster to act barbarically towards the peace loving people of Benishangul.
The following crimes are some of the documented atrocities, encountered by the people of Benishangul since the inauguration day on 2nd of April 2018:-
1. On 28 April 2019 Genocide in Metekel Zone in Benishangul. we urge the world to listen the outcries of people of Benishangul. who are subject to an ethnic cleansing repeatedly through the history, it is a deliberate and systematic killing of innocent villagers from Gumuz by Amhara, the most powerful group in Ethiopia. This genocide which is taking place in Gumuze towns, villages are another crime against humanity in Africa after Rwanda ‘s genocide, the government’s medias are intentionally hides the truth paving the way to Amhara owned Media to play victim role.
2. Attacking villagers in Kamashi, Begi and Assosa’s outskirts continuously is a strategy to exterminate the people of Benishangul.
3. On 14th June 2018 Federal Police Force’s employees were returning to Assosa by bus to celebrate the Eid (Muslims Festival). 4 of them were kidnapped in Najo. 3 of them were killed and one was released because his mother was Oromo, the names of the victims are:
Hassan Abduljalil , Anwar Basheer and Jamal Dafaa Allah
4. On 24 June 2018 a police officer was kidnapped in Tongo.
5. On 25 June Tongo was attacked
6. On 26 June Assosa was attacked by strangers; youth came from other parts of Oromya
to destabilize the region and spread fear among the citizens.
7. Strategically planned demonstrations and killings by settlers, and adopting shoot to
kill policy in Assosa in order to silence the activist.
The Prime Minister’s government policies in Benishangul is different from that found in other states. The policies adopted by the government violate the Benishangul rights. Such as land grabbing, detaining innocents villagers and preventing them from doing business. These conducts contributed in impoverishment. The following strategies are what the government use to weaken the people of Benishangul:-
1. Depriving indigenous of their land.
2. Continuous attacks by Amhara and Oromo without being condemned by the Prime
Minister.
3. The numbers of arbitrary prisoners have doubled in Benishangul, although the Prime Minister alleges deceptively that there is democracy in the country, where everyone enjoys freedom, equality and justice.
4. The former Oromo regional governor with the support of the Prime Minister claim the land of Benishangul, and the Amhara do the same. If these colonizers succeeds in depriving the Benishangul people of their land, where would they be sent to?
5. Prime Minister’s government is considered to be the most offensive, repressive and brutal for the Benishangul people . Because it put Benishangul under a siege. This has caused shortage of daily needs, such as food, medicine.
6. The Benishangul People were intentionally excluded from the alleged transformation; therefore they were not represented in the current federal government at the ministerial level and all federal positions.
7. The Prime Minister has approached all opposition movements. He negotiated with them, listened to their demands, and asked them to return except Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement. how would the Prime minister justify his exclusion for Benishangul?
8. The prime minister’s government attacked Mr. Abdulwahab who gave up armed struggle, and chose peace for development.
The Prime Minister Mr. Abiy and Lamma Megresa of Oromiya are exercising tremendous pressure on Benishangul regional governor Mr Al Shanzali. it has forced him to allow Oromo regional government to open 10 schools in Benishangul in Oromo Language, invest, and construct road to Kamashi. All these projects are not legal, because Oromo governor has not authority in Benishangul, unless they plan to expand and to annex Benishangul or Oromya.
We can conclude from the aforementioned crimes that the Prime Minister is leading the country into a dark future. The Benishangul People are struggling peacefully for equality, justice and liberty. Therefore, the government’s brutal and arbitrary policies in Benishangul are unjustified.
The merciless and vicious siege against the Benishangul people has caused so many deaths. This siege was orchestrated at a high level under the supervision of the Prime Minister himself, so as to subjugate the people of Benishangul, in order to pave the road for looting their land and resources. However, the Benishangul human rights foundation would like to assure the people of Benishangul, that the foundation will keep on protesting locally and internationally, to protect the rights of Benishangul in a peaceful manner.
The Prime Minister coordinated media isolation in Benishangul, which made it easier for his supporters to imprison and kill the defenceless people brutally. Such atrocities will turn the entire region into chaos. Knowing that the world does not need more problems than already exists. Therefore, we urge the international agencies and civil societies, to exercise their pressures on the Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, in order to stop the ethnic cleansing in Benishangul, the peace loving people.
Benishangul Human Rights Foundation
