At least eight dead and 16 wounded in Ethiopia by an alleged attack by rebels who signed a peace agreement

July 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Ethiopian Commission for Human Rights has confirmed an armed attack carried out allegedly by a rebel group that signed a peace agreement in a troubled region in the east of the country, which has resulted in eight deaths and 16 injuries.

The attack occurred on July 7 in the Benishangul-Gumaz region, specifically in the so-called “Metekel zone”, a cauldron of migratory tensions where up to a dozen ethnic groups claim the management of resources for themselves until it culminates in a conflict. from June 2019 to October 2022, which resulted in half a thousand deaths and some 100,000 internally displaced persons.

The conflict ended with a peace agreement signed by rebel groups such as the Gumuz People’s Democratic Movement (GPDM), to which the commission attributes this latest armed action, reports the ‘Addis Standard’ this Saturday.

The commission, semi-independent of the Ethiopian government, recalls that during the last 12 months the authorities have released 370 members and leaders of the GDPM under the amnesty and reconciliation agreement under the promise to lay down their arms.

This promise was reportedly broken after the attack, carried out in the vicinity of the city of Gilgel Beles, in retaliation for a series of violent incidents that began with the accidental running over of a Gumuz teenager. The area, the commission explains, is now “relatively calm” but the intervention of the Army has been necessary to restore tranquility.