Notable escalation of ethnically-motivated violence in Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz and Tigray regions

At least 34 civilians were killed on 14 November when unidentified gunmen ambushed a passenger bus as it travelled through a remote area between the towns of Wonbera and Chagni in the Metekel Zone of Ethiopia’s western Benishangul-Gumuz region, close to the border with neighbouring Sudan.

In a statement issued the following day, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) warned that the death toll from the “gruesome attack” was likely to rise, and noted that it had received “reports of similar attacks in three other areas of Benishangul-Gumuz, resulting in the displacement of an unspecified number of people. However, no further details regarding these attacks were provided.

Sahle-Work Zewde (centre L), President of Ethiopia, stands next to Abiy Ahmed (centre R), Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and General Birhanu Jula (R), Chief of General Staff, during an event to honour the national defence forces in the capital Addis Ababa, on 17 November 2020. (Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images)

Increase in tempo of attacks

Although no group had claimed responsibility for the ambush at the time of writing, the operation is the latest in a spate of attacks perpetrated by heavily-armed militants operating in Metekel Zone since early September.

At least 30 civilians, were killed in a series of raids on villages in Metekel between 6 and 13 September. “Farmers and members of their families were kidnapped [and] brought to an elementary school in the area where they were handcuffed and shot one by one,” Desalegn Chane, a senior lawmaker with the National Movement of Amhara (NaMA), told Reuters on 17 September.