Residents of Wolkite, the administrative capital of the Gurage zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) region of Ethiopia, are reeling from a violent crackdown by security forces that have left at least six people dead and more than 15 seriously injured. The protesters had taken to the streets to demonstrate against a chronic lack of fresh water in the city, which has been a longstanding issue.
According to Abubakar Kemal, a resident of Wolkite, the protesters had gathered to peacefully demonstrate at the office of water development in the city before proceeding to the city administration to voice their concerns. Despite their nonviolent intentions, special forces of the SNNP region arrived on the scene and began firing indiscriminately on the crowd of protesters, resulting in the tragic loss of six lives and numerous injuries.
Eyewitness accounts indicate that security forces committed horrific acts of attack against the protesters while chasing them, leaving the city in a state of shock. Hayder Murad, another resident of Wolkite, recounted that mothers and youth of the city had been carrying empty jerry cans and calling on the government to address the severe water shortage in the area, which had persisted for the last three months. The security forces, however, responded with extreme brutality, indiscriminately firing on mothers and youth, and killing at least six people.
Among the deceased were children who had followed their mothers to the protest. Meanwhile, more than 15 people are currently in critical condition and receiving treatment at the city’s hospital. Local sources report that security forces are preventing the gathering of local communities who wish to offer support to grieving families.
The Wolkite incident is just the latest in a string of heavy-handed measures by regional and federal security forces to contain ongoing protests against government-backed clustering of the southern region to create two new regional states out of the existing structure. The Gurage Zone Council had long opposed the restructuring, as it was seeking its own regional state status, which it had first proposed in November 2018.
Despite opposition from the Gurage Zone Council, senior officials of the region, led by regional president Ristu Yirdaw, decided to establish the ‘Central Ethiopia Region’, which would incorporate the Gurage zone. This move has been met with repeated protests from the zone’s residents, including in Wolkite city. Due to several stay-at-home protests, the zone has been under a command post since November 2022.
The latest protests against the restructuring have been largely peaceful, but security forces have responded with excessive force in the past, resulting in the summary detention of more than 100 youths. Neither the Gurage Zone administration nor the SNNP region has issued a statement regarding the latest crackdown in Wolkite.
