Ethiopian government apologises for failing to avert ethnic clashes

ADDIS ABABA, Mar 06, 2004 (dpa) — The Ethiopian government has apologised to various ethnic groups in the western Gambella region for failing to avert clashes which claimed more than 300 lives since December, reports said Saturday.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs acknowledged its inadequate response to the ethnic tensions in the region, which had led to the clashes and apologised “for not taking proactive measures”.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council published a list in late January with the names of 300 people, mainly from the Anuak ethnic group, reported to have been killed in the ethnic clashes in Gambella since mid-December.

This was before the Anuaks themselves retaliated at the end of January by killing nearly 190 people, mostly people from neighbouring regions engaged in traditional gold mining in the area.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs said that government was taking measures to ensure that justice was done and an investigation has been launched.

The government previously said that 37 suspects had been detained.

Federal authorities, in cooperation with tribal and community leaders, are assisting the regional government to restore law and order in Gambella where tens of thousands of ethnic Anuanks had been forced to flee to neighbouring Sudan.

Schools, that were closed since the series of ethnic clashes were reported by mid-January, have now reopened.

There has been calls for a full enquiry into the Gambella massacre by human rights advocates at home and abroad as well as by Western governments, including the United States.