Using the hashtag #DishonestAmnesty, rights activists worldwide criticized Amnesty International’s East African Bureau, which ignored the recent mass killing of over 200 Ethiopians, but focused on the mass arrests of detainees accused of involvement in the gruesome crimes. Amnesty’s video was first redistributed by human rights activist Edna Alemayehu, who is known for her work with the Solidarity Movement for New Ethiopia (SMNE). Her team went to Oromia to investigate the July mass killings and documented several personal stories of various victims who were targeted by an Oromo nationalist mob following the assassination of musician Hacalu Hundesa. This is not the first time Amnesty’s regional bureau came under fire, as it also downplayed the mass killings of ethnic minorities in Oromia during the October 2019 massacre. Critics say human rights organizations like Amnesty International downplaying the sporadic ethnic cleansings in Ethiopia is dangerous because it will embolden the warlords and killers to commit more massacres regularly.

Source: Ethiopian News August 17, 2020 03:53 UTC