NAIROBI: Militia members from Ethiopia’s second largest ethnic group killed dozens of people and torched and looted homes in an attack on a town in the country’s restless Oromia region, survivors told AFP.
The attack took place early Monday in Agamsa in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest and most densely populated region which is regularly rocked by clashes between the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups.
“The attackers attacked... from three directions using gunfire and continued their attacks until around 2:00 pm,” a survivor, who fled Agamsa told AFP.
“They killed around 100 residents, torched many houses and shops and looted food warehouses using rickshaws, cars and motorcycles. I saw the attack with my own eyes, but managed to flee unharmed.”
Another survivor said the assailants stole cattle and killed more than 100 people.
Both said the men were members of a militia based in the neighboring Amhara region.
The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which is designated a terrorist organization by Addis Ababa, said the Amhara Fano militia staged the attack and killed at least 62 people in Agamsa.
Neither the regional or federal governments responded to AFP’s demands for confirmation.
Locals said the attack came after rotating regional troops left the area on Sunday but had not been replaced.
A resident, who fled Agamsa but returned, said: “I’m still in Agamsa town but there is no government security forces presence. We’re afraid the attackers will come again.”
In August last year, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said over 210 people were killed in a week of ethnic attacks in Gida-Kirimu, near Agamsa.
In June, hundreds of mainly mainly Amhara civilians were killed in a restive area in the far west of the country.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed blamed the Oromo Liberation Army, saying it was “inflicting damage” on people as its fighters fled an offensive by security forces in western Oromia.
Officials have blamed the OLA for a number of massacres targeting Amharas, although the rebels have denied responsibility.
Dozens killed by Ethiopian ethnic militia: survivors
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Dozens killed by Ethiopian ethnic militia: survivors
EU leaders begin India visit ahead of ‘mother of all deals’ trade pact
- Antonio Luis Santos da Costa, Ursula von der Leyen are chief guests at Republic Day function
- Access to EU market will help mitigate India’s loss of access to US following Trump’s tariffs
New Delhi: Europe’s top leaders have arrived in New Delhi to participate in Republic Day celebrations on Monday, ahead of a key EU-India Summit and the conclusion of a long-sought free trade agreement.
European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in India over the weekend, invited as chief guests of the 77th Republic Day parade.
They will hold talks on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the EU-India Summit, where they are expected to announce a comprehensive trade agreement after years of stalled negotiations.
Von der Leyen called it the “mother of all deals” at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week — a reference made earlier by India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal — as it will create a market of 2 billion people.
“The India-EU FTA has been a long time coming as negotiations have been going on between the two for more than a decade. Some of the red lines that prevented the signing of the FTA continue to this date, but it seems that the trade negotiations have found a way around it,” said Anupam Manur, professor of economics at the Takshashila Institution.
“The main contentious issue remains the Indian government’s desire to protect the farmers and dairy producers from competition and the European Union’s strict climate-based rules and taxation. Despite this, both see enormous value in the trade deal.”
India already has free trade agreements with more than a dozen countries, including Australia, the UAE, and Japan.
The pact with the EU would be its third in less than a year, after it signed a multibillion CEPA (comprehensive economic partnership agreement) with the UK in July and another with Oman in December. A week after the Oman deal, New Delhi also concluded negotiations on a free trade agreement with New Zealand, as it races to secure strategic and trade ties with the rest of the world, after US President Donald Trump slapped it with 50 percent tariffs.
The EU is also facing tariff uncertainty. Earlier this month Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on several EU countries unless they supported his efforts to take over Greenland, which is an autonomous region of Denmark.
“The expediting factor in the trade deal is the unilateral and economically irrational trade decisions taken by their biggest trading partner, the United States,” Manur told Arab News.
Being subject to the highest tariff rates, India has been required to sign FTAs with other major economies. Access to the EU market would help mitigate the loss of access to the US.
The EU is India’s largest trading partner in goods, accounting for about $136 billion in the financial year 2024-25.
Before the tariffs, India enjoyed a $45 billion trade surplus with the US, exporting nearly $80 billion. To the EU’s 27 member states, it exports about $75 billion.
“This can be sizably increased after the FTA,” Manur said. “Purely in value terms, this would be the biggest FTA for India, surpassing the successful FTAs with the UK, Australia, Oman and the UAE.”
