Witnesses Report Deadly Identity-Based Attacks on Civilians and Orthodox Clergy in East Wollega

Eyewitnesses and local sources are reporting deadly attacks against Amhara civilians and Ethiopian Orthodox clergy in parts of East Wollega, including Gida Ayana district and the Anger Guten area, amid allegations that regional government-linked security forces are participating.

Sources said Qomos Abba Tadesse, a senior Orthodox priest at Andode Selassie Church, was forcibly taken with other clergy during a religious service and later killed.

Separate reports say two monastics, Abuhay Ayele Arega and Emahoy Eskedar, were killed after seeking refuge inside a church. Residents have also reported civilians being killed or pursued and homes being looted and burned.

Witnesses accuse two forces of involvement: an armed formation linked to the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and led by Jaal Moossee, also identified as Regassa Assefa, and an Oromia Police unit commonly known as the "Gadaa Commando." Sources allege that the two forces have recently been operating together in the area.

The accounts link Moossee’s group to fighters formerly associated with Fekede Abdisa, an armed commander previously accused of involvement in attacks against Amhara communities in Wollega. Sources further describe the Gadaa Commando as originating from a special-operations component of the former Oromia Special Forces.

Videos circulating on social media appear to show perpetrators burning homes and killing civilians, with some of the violence apparently recorded by those carrying it out. Some observers have raised concerns that the circulation of such footage may be intended not only to terrorize affected communities but also to provoke retaliatory violence and inflame intercommunal and interreligious tensions.

UMD Media has not independently verified all casualty reports, the identities of the perpetrators or the command relationships described by the sources.

Yared Hailemariam: Violence Extends Beyond Amhara Communities

Human rights activist Yared Hailemariam also raised alarm over the violence in two social-media posts within the past day.

Yared said reports reaching him indicate that Orthodox Christians, including church servants and monastics, as well as Amhara, Tigrayan and people from other ethnic backgrounds, are being targeted in different parts of East Wollega.

He said particularly disturbing information included videos that he said show Oromia regional security personnel filming themselves while burning residential homes, firing through villages, killing and pursuing civilians.

Yared characterized what is happening as "state-sponsored" identity-based violence, alleging that forces whose responsibility is to protect civilians have themselves become principal perpetrators. He also said intensified fighting among armed groups operating in the area has worsened civilian casualties.

In his latest post, Yared warned that unless the violence is stopped urgently, Ethiopia could descend into an uncontrolled cycle of identity-based mass killing. Invoking the 1994 Rwandan genocide to illustrate the severity of his warning, he called on the government to "stop playing with fire," saying information reaching him suggested the situation was approaching the point of getting out of control.

At the time of publication, neither the Oromia regional government nor Ethiopia’s federal government had issued a detailed public response to the specific allegations.

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Originally published on UMD Media Facebook on 2026-08-30T10:30:00-06:00. Source: https://www.facebook.com/getachew.UMDMedia