Over 208 people were killed and at least 100 children were kidnapped in the raids
Addis Ababa the capital of African country Ethiopia has declared a state-wide period of mourning for victims of the deadly cross-border raids that took place last week in Gambela, a region in the far west of the country and one marking its border with Sudan. Home to nearly 3 million Sudanese refugees fleeing the civil war that has ravaged through the country for the last two years, Gambela has often seen violence from across the border. Last week, three districts of the province bore witness to a heated cattle raids led by perpetrators who crossed the border from South Sudan.
In the violence that followed, at least 208 civilians were killed and more than a hundred children were abducted unceremoniously from the attacked districts. In paying their respects to these victims, the Parliament announced on Tuesday that the state flags would flow at half-mast throughout the country, including at its foreign missions on both, Wednesday and Thursday. However, no further information about the children was available.
The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn while expressing his grief, assured the people that his government was working in accordance with the South Sudan government to locate the attackers, who were decidedly neither South Sudanese forces, nor rebels. Said he,”The atrocities committed by armed militants from South Sudan’s Murle tribe claimed the lives of 208 mothers and children. They also abducted 102 children,” providing the public with a number lower than the 108 previously declared abductions by the government.
Ethiopian Information Minister, Getachew Reda, stated that the Ethiopian army had already killed almost 60 perpetrators and were on the trail to reach many others across the border. Athough such attacks are not infrequent in the Gambela, all previous attacks by the Murle tribesmen based in the Upper Nile and Jonglei regions of South Sudan, have resulted in fewer casualties and a smaller scale of loss.
Source: Al Jazeera
Tags: Ethiopia Gambela victims
