AfriqueCAN:
An Ethiopian humanitarian worker who was abducted has been killed in the volatile Amhara region, aid groups said.
In a statement, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, in Ethiopia reported that Yared Melese was kidnapped for ransom and later killed by an unidentified criminal group operating in Dawunt Woreda of the North Wello Zone in Amhara.
In an email response, OCHA told VOA’s Horn of Africa Service that Melese, a nutrition officer with the Action for Social Development and Environmental Protection Organization, was kidnapped on July 22, while his death was confirmed on August 9.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the kidnapping for ransom and subsequent killing of our colleague, Mr. Yared Melese, by criminals, whilst he was serving in the line of duty,” read a statement by Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Ethiopia.
“Yared was a brave and dedicated humanitarian worker who was ready to assist civilians in need under extremely challenging circumstances. Any attack, threat, looting or extortion demands are unacceptable breaches of our Code of Conduct,” Alakbarov said.
VOA’s Horn of Africa Service has not independently verified the report. There was no immediate reaction to the reported killing from Ethiopia’s federal government or the authorities in the Amhara region.
Melese is the eighth humanitarian worker killed in Ethiopia so far in 2024, six of them in Amhara, according to the OCHA statement. It said an additional 14 aid workers have been kidnapped.
Without specifically commenting on the reported killing of Melese, the local Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Council said Wednesday that it has received multiple reports of a “surge in attacks targeting humanitarian workers in the Amhara, Oromia and other regions.”
Violence in parts of Amhara has increased within the last year after clashes broke out between federal government forces and the ethnic Amhara Fano armed group. The fighting broke out over plans to disarm the regional paramilitary forces to integrate them into other security structures, including the federal army.