Ethiopia: At Least 20 Killed in Anti-Muslim Attack in Amhara Region

At least 20 people were killed in an anti-Muslim attack carried out by “Christian extremists” during the funeral of a Muslim dignitary in the city of Gondar, in Amhara, northwest Ethiopiareported an Islamic body on Wednesday.

Questioned by the Ethiopian public radio television EBC, the mayor of Gondar, Zewdu Malede, confirmed that “some extremists” had caused the “incident”, which left “destruction of property and loss of human life on both sides”, Muslims and Christians.

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AFP was unable to contact the Amhara regional government and Gondar police refused to comment on the matter.

In a statement, the Muslim Affairs Council of the region assures that a “massacre was carried out on April 26 towards Muslims gathered in the Sheikh Elias cemetery, in the city of Gondar, by Christian extremists armed with individual and collective weapons. ”.

These “unleashed a salvo of fire” with the help of automatic weapons and grenades, the Council specified, indicating that “20 people were killed.”

The wounded were taken to hospital and many goods belonging to the Muslims were looted.

A disagreement between Orthodox Christians — the most represented religion in Ethiopia and very majority amhara— and Muslims about the cemetery where the burial took place could explain the violence.

“Despite incessant actions to take possession of the Sheikh Elias cemetery, the place has always been a Muslim cemetery,” the Council said in the statement.

The cemetery is on the border between a mosque and an Orthodox church, which has angered some Christians, a member of the local security forces in Gondar told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The violence was perpetrated by “extremists, they do not represent in any case the Christian and Muslim communities”, stressed the mayor of Gondar.

The goal “was to burn, destroy, destabilize and loot Gondar,” he said. “They failed” and “the situation was back under control by 7:00 pm ″ on Tuesday, he added.

Source: Elcomercio