Rebels kill 20 in Ethiopia

2005-10-31 13:44

Addis Ababa - Rebels launched a string of raids in the southwestern corner of Ethiopia, killing at least 20 people, including a state police chief, said diplomats on Monday.

The pro-government media said four police officers were killed and at least six officers were wounded during Sunday's pre-dawn attacks on a police station, a prison and a Roman Catholic church compound in Gambella, an underdeveloped, swampy, malaria-infested lowland region of this Horn of Africa nation.

Senday Gach of police said: "Members of the defence forces and the Federal Police are in hot pursuit of the culprits."

Human rights abuses

Rebels from the semi-nomadic Anuak community had been fighting Ethiopian police and army troops in Gambella, accusing the security forces of human rights abuses.

In March, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian troops had committed widespread killings, rapes and torture of the Anuak population in Gambella since late 2003.

Human Rights Watch investigator Chris Albin-Lackey said numerous attacks by soldiers and civilians from other ethnic groups had killed more than 500 people and driven several thousand Anuaks from their homes in the region.

Albin-Lackey said in December 2003, civilians attacked several Anuak villages, killing more than 400 people. He said Ethiopian soldiers responded to the massacre by attacking more Anuak villages.

- AP