A week after deadly attacks in the Ethiopian border region of Gambela, state forces have entered neighboring South Sudan in an attempt to surround the attackers and rescue more than 100 kidnapped children.
Parents in Gambela are still waiting for news of their children after more than 100 boys and girls in the western province disappeared last week. They were kidnapped by militias who had crossed into Ethiopia from neighboring South Sudan. Armed men attacked more than a dozen villages on Friday, April 15. They massacred cattle herds and killed more than 200 people before leaving with around 2000 cattle – and the children.
Scepticism over speedy rescue
The attackers’ identity remains unclear. The Ethiopian government has blamed armed militias from the Murle ethnic group, based mainly in the eastern Jonglei region of South Sudan, for the attacks. The Ethiopian government sent troops across the border into South Sudan in pursuit of the assailants, then claiming its soldiers had surrounded the area where the children were being held. A government spokesperson told state television that the kidnapped children would soon be freed.
But many Ethiopians are sceptical. “The government is incapable of protecting its citizens,” an Ethiopian Facebook user commented on DW’s page. “The government ordered the people in Gambela to disarm – soon afterwards we suffered this tragedy,” another Ethiopian added.
What is behind the violence?Ethiopia and South Sudan share a long, porous border. Cattle raids are not uncommon in the region, but t Continue reading “recent new about ethiopia”
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