ESAT News (January 23, 2016)
Five people were shot and killed at an Epiphany celebration in Chilga, Gondar, in what sources say was an apparent attack by the regime’s security operatives against the Qimant ethnic group to incite violence between them and the other people of Gondar. Recent reliable reports reaching ESAT show that the regime kill squads were killing people on both sides, the Qimant and the Amharas in Gondar. The operatives then tell each side that the other side perpetrated the killings.
A source who spoke to ESAT on the phone from Gondar said Wednesday’s killing, on the day of Epiphany at a sacred place like a church, made the situation ghastly. He said two of the people who were shot and killed were a priest who was carrying the Tabot, the replica of the arch of the covenant, and a deacon at the Kidanemhiret church in Chilga.
The source who said he believed the victims were shot and killed by killing squads sent by the regime, expressed his fear that Wednesday’s killing would cast a shadow over the otherwise cordial relationship between the Qimant and the other people of Gondar, who recently held a cultural reconciliation ceremony not to get involved in attacking one another.
The source gave names of the victims as Belete Abera, Tekle Andarge, Captain Gebeye, Andarge Gebeye and Gebye Takele.
A total of 15 people were killed in the last two weeks, according to information ESAT received from its sources in Gondar.