{"id":2361,"date":"2021-08-22T21:43:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T21:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news25.org\/?p=2361"},"modified":"2021-10-29T09:50:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T09:50:10","slug":"caught-in-the-crossfire-ethiopian-minority-flees-to-sudan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.news25.org\/caught-in-the-crossfire-ethiopian-minority-flees-to-sudan\/","title":{"rendered":"Caught in the crossfire, Ethiopian minority flees to Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Violence has since sucked in various ethnic groups in bitter battles over land, and spread from Tigray into Ethiopia\u2019s neighbouring Amhara region.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dragged into a conflict not of their making, members of Ethiopia\u2019s Qemant ethnic group say their only choice was fleeing to Sudan \u2013 marking another bleak turn in a widening war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHouses were burned and people killed by machetes,\u201d said refugee Emebet Demoz, who, like thousands of others, ran from her village last month. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t even take the bodies and bury them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands have been killed since fighting erupted in November in Ethiopia\u2019s northernmost Tigray region, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent in troops to topple the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front, the regional ruling party, saying the move came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The violence has since sucked in other groups in bitter battles over land, and has spread from Tigray into Ethiopia\u2019s neighbouring Amhara region, homeland of both the Amhara people and the ethnic minority Qemant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amhara fighters supported Abiy\u2019s forces, in an attempt to settle a decades-long dispute over territory they claim was seized by the TPLF during its nearly three-decade rule before Abiy took power in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Qemant have long chafed under the cultural and economic influence of the dominant Amhara people, and in recent years have called for self-rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 2017 referendum on the question of creating a Qemant autonomous zone ended in rancour, with the resulting territorial dispute sparking increasingly frequent clashes between the two groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Amhara fighters backed by the government wanted us off our land,\u201d 20-year-old Emebet said. \u201cThey are killing us because we\u2019re an ethnic minority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Refused to take sides\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But Amhara regional spokesperson Gizachew Muluneh squarely denied that members of the Qemant ethnic group were being targeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amhara leaders say the Qemant\u2019s quest for self-rule has largely been stoked by Tigrayan rebels, who they allege are fighting a proxy war by backing the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gizachew said those described as refugees were \u201cpro-terrorist TPLF and they are created by TPLF for the purpose of distracting Ethiopia and Amhara\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n