No fewer than 130 people have been killed in renewed ethnic attacks in Metekel area at Benishangul-Gumuz region, Western Ethiopia
Local media reports, quoting “reliable sources” said the attacks occurred on Monday and Tuesday.
The attacks were reportedly carried out on Monday and Tuesday.
“The area residents who were collecting the bodies told Esat that during the Dibate district attack [in Metekel], the armed bandits were only targeting the houses of Amhara and Agew nationals and killed [many], including women and children. They also said that the number could rise,” a report said.
Last month, more than 200 people were killed in an ethnic attack in the same region.
The incident took place hours after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had visited the region to assess the security situation.
Security forces killed 42 of the attackers in a subsequent operation as the authorities placed several districts in the region under military control.
The instability poses a threat to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which has been built on the Blue Nile in Benishangul-Gumuz – and is the subject of tense negotiations over how it will affect Sudan and Egypt, countries which also use the Nile waters.
When it is fully operation in several years’ time it will become Africa’s largest hydroelectric plant.
