BEIJING (Reuters) – One Chinese citizen was killed in an attack on Monday in Ethiopia’s Oromiya region, the Chinese embassy in the country said, and it warned other citizens in Ethiopia to exercise caution and build up safety awareness.
Nine Chinese citizens in Gebre Guracha, a town in northern Oromiya, came under armed attack on Monday evening and one was shot dead, the Chinese embassy in Ethiopia said in a statement on Tuesday. It did not identify the perpetrators.
A spokesperson for Ethiopia’s foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment.
The Chinese embassy added that border areas between Oromiya and other states have seen frequent armed attacks, kidnappings, and robberies, making security risks extremely high.
Last week, unidentified gunmen briefly abducted dozens of workers of Nigeria’s Dangote Cement in Oromiya region. They were later released unharmed, a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement on Monday.
Hailu Adugna, spokesperson, for Oromiya’s regional government, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the abduction of Dangote Cement’s workers.
The violence in Oromiya is separate from a two-year war between the federal government and regional forces in the northern region of Tigray, which stopped in November, when the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces signed an agreement to end the hostilities.
Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, had hoped that their lot would improve after they helped Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is of mixed Oromo-Amhara parentage, come to power in 2018. However, many became disenchanted with Abiy and feel neglected by the government.
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Additional reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
