A serious episode of violence occurred on September 2 in the regional state of Oromia, in the district of Amuru, where gunmen opened fire on the civilian population causing the death of at least 42 people (https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/gunmen-kill-least-42-people-ethiopias-oromiya-region-residents-2022-09-02/).
According to reports in some international media outlets, residents of the area reportedly blamed Amhara’s Fano militia for the killings, while the victims were exclusively from the Oromian community.
The assailants reportedly numbered about 150-200, heavily armed and dressed in uniforms of different fashions, and, according to witnesses, all spoke the Amhara language (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/2/gunmen-kill-dozens-in-ethiopias-oromia-region-report).
The violence would appear to be part of the continuing conflict between Oromo Liberation Army formations – and their allies of the Gambella Liberation Front – against those of the Amhara regional state – and their allied Fano militias – as part of the irredentist thrusts of the Oromia rebel formations.
Last June, OLA and GLF rebels launched an attack on the town of Gambella, which was later repelled by local and federal forces, and a few days later OLA forces were responsible for the deaths of some 400 ethnic Amhara civilians in one of the bloodiest attacks ever recorded in the region. An escalation of violence that threatens to widen Ethiopia’s internal crisis front, triggering further outbreaks of conflict capable of destabilizing the security of the federal state (https://www.voanews.com/a/what-s-behind-violence-in-ethiopia-s-other-conflict-/6729178.html).
