Cholera outbreak in concentration camps where thousands of ethnic Amhara detained

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News updates from citizen journalism emerging on social media say Cholera outbreaks in several concentration camps in the capital Addis Ababa and Oromia regions where tens of thousands of ethnic Amharas are detained have claimed lives.

As many as 40,000 ethnic Amharas are said to have been detained since Abiy Ahmed’s administration declared a state of emergency in early August in response to the armed resistance of Fano combatants whose stated motive is to reverse existential threats of ethnic Amhara. Tens of thousands of ethnic Amhara have been killed in many parts of Ethiopia – mostly in the Oromia region – since Abiy Ahmed took power as Prime Minister in 2018.

The number of casualties from the Cholera outbreak is unspecified, However, pictures and video footage widely shared on social media outlets in the past few days purportedly show thousands of people rounded up in a camp. Some social media sources say as many as 300 detainees have died due to the Cholera outbreak.

Some are seen receiving IV Fluids. Most of the images are from the Tulu Dimtu area – on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa – which the Oromia regional state included in the Sheger City Project where over 100,000 residential homes, mostly targeting ethnic Amhara, were demolished on alleged grounds of “illegal settlements.”

A large portion of ethnic -Amhara in Tulu Dimtu make-shift concentration camps were randomly arrested in the capital Addis Ababa – according to sources.

Anchor media report in the ended Ethiopian New year said the condition under which the detainees are kept in the concentration camps is deplorable and Human Rights Organizations are urged to  investigate it.

The Ethiopian government this week denied that it does not have a concentration camp and that the number of people it has arrested is only 764.  Video footage circulating on social media, however, appears to show that more ethnic Amharas are in detention.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, it said that its detention centers are in Kombolcha, Gondar, Bahir Dar, Shewa Robt and Awash Arba (in the Amhara and Oromia regions).

The Command Post also said that “Arresting people in connection with the state of emergency without the knowledge of the Command post [ a body that is overseeing the implementation of the state of emergency] is a criminal offense.”

It further claimed that those detained are in good condition, thereby denying the reported cholera outbreak.

Meanwhile, a credible local news source, Ethio News, on Wednesday reported that the Ethiopian Defense Force executed 19 unarmed ethnic Amhara youth in Trust GemzaNorth Shoa, in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.

It is said to be a retaliatory execution to avenge the death of soldiers who were ambushed in the area a day before it executed the unarmed youth. The execution happened on the eve of the Ethiopian New Year this past Monday and many of them were buried on Tuesday – during the Holiday.

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