Benishangul-Gumuz's police commissioner says gunmen he identified as the Oromo Liberation Army killed 52 people in Dalati kebele on 5 November. The Oromo Liberation Front says regional police then killed more than 43 Oromo civilians there. Neither account has been verified.
Armed men killed 52 people in an attack on Dalati kebele in Bilidigilu woreda, Asosa Zone, in Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz region, on the morning of Thursday 5 November, the regional police commissioner said, according to reports published on 7 November by BBC Tigrinya, The Abay Times and Borkena, citing BBC Amharic.
Commissioner Idris Mohammed said 21 of the dead were civilians and the rest members of the regional security forces; The Abay Times reported his breakdown as 18 riot police and 13 local militia. He said the attack began at about 5am, that the attackers withdrew immediately and that the army and additional regional forces had since been deployed and the area was calm. He blamed fighters the government calls "Shene", its term for the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). Dalati lies on the boundary with Oromia region.
Other officials gave similar but not identical figures. Regional council member Lemessa Neno said about 50 people had been killed, 33 of them security personnel, and said the area was rich in marble that armed groups had tried to control. A police officer quoted by The Abay Times put the toll at more than 35. Gragn Gudeta, who chairs the council's standing committee on peace, justice and democracy, blamed complacency and said his committee would review repeated security failures.
Competing allegation
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a registered opposition party distinct from the OLA, said in a statement shared by its spokesman Lemi Gemechu that regional security forces had killed more than 43 Oromo civilians in Dalati the same day, accusing them of supporting the OLA. BBC Tigrinya said it could verify neither the officials' account nor the OLF allegation, nor establish whether they referred to the same events. The OLA had not responded publicly; it has denied involvement in similar attacks in the area in the past.
Context
The attack happened on the same morning that residents say 38 people were killed in Endeto, in Robe woreda in Oromia's Arsi area, an attack Oromia's government also blamed on the OLA. Benishangul-Gumuz has seen repeated violence linked to ethnic tensions, competition for land and resources and several armed groups. BBC Tigrinya recalled that at least 18 civilians were killed near a bus station in Gilgel Beles in August, and that at least 40 people were reported killed in Bulen woreda in November last year. Ethiopia's parliament designated the OLA a terrorist organisation in 2021.
Image: Sunset over Asosa, the capital of Benishangul-Gumuz region, 2021. Dawit yohannes ye zufi lij, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.