The African Union has condemned an attack carried out by armed gunmen from South Sudan in the Jakawa area of the Gambella region of Ethiopia last Friday, which left scores dead.
Ethiopian officials have said that more than 200 people were killed in the raid and around 80 have been taken to the hospital in Gambella for treatment for gunshot wounds.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), expressed condolences to the families of the victims and wished speedy recovery to the injured.
“She assures the government and people of Ethiopia of the AU’s full solidarity and support in these difficult circumstances. She demands the immediate and unconditional release of the women and children abducted from Ethiopia,” adds the statement.
This comes after Ethiopia’s government vowed to recover women and children abducted in the raid
Zuma said that the African Union “looks forward to joint efforts by the Governments of South Sudan and Ethiopia to bring to justice those who committed this despicable act.”
Some Ethiopian officials have blamed gunmen from the Murle tribe for carrying out the attack.
David Yau Yau, the former chief administrator of the Greater Pibor Area, which is the homeland of the Murle tribe, told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that he lacked information on the incident and had only heard about it through news media.
But he pointed to an administrative vacuum in the Pibor areas these days.
“The area of Boma State is suffering from a government vacuum,” said Yau Yau, who was replaced in December by presidential decree appointing a new Boma State governor and dissolving the Greater Pibor Area Administration, which had been created by a 2013 peace deal.