April 5, 2024
An undated photo of Panyiduk Camp in Gambella, Ethiopia [Photo: Courtesy]
At least 10 people were killed and 19 others injured by an unknown armed group in the Panyiduk camp in Gambella, Ethiopia on Friday.
In an exclusive interview with The City Review, Peter Maker, Panyiduk Camp Chairman, said the armed group attacked Zone Seven, an area in which the Anyuak community were settled by the UNHCR since their arrival in the Gambella region in 2014.
He said the criminals attacked the refugees at around 9 a.m. and killed 10 people while wounding 19 others.
“This incident just happened at around 9. A.m. today [Friday] in the morning when an unidentified armed group attacked zone seven of Panyiduk camp in Gambella and killed 10 people. As people were running for their lives they wounded 19 other people that are in a severe condition at the movement,” Maker said.
He added, “The Anyuak community were settled in Zone Seven by the UNHCR in 2014 and they have been living there.”
Maker alleged that the suspects might be the armed youth from the Murle community, stressing that they ran towards Bongak of the Pibor Administrative area on the border after the attack.
“For us, we are suspecting Murle armed youth because they have been the ones attacking refugees in Gambella. Whenever they had issues with the Anyuak community they could come to Gambella and attack Zone Seven where the Anyuak community lives and they sometimes take children them,” he lamented.
He stated that the people severely wounded were taken to Panyiduk camp’s main hospital for treatment.
Maker revealed that all the attacks often happened because there were no police deployed by the government of Ethiopia in the camp.
He lamented, “It is only Gambella town with soldiers and they cannot arrive on time even if they are informed because it takes an hour for a vehicle to arrive in Panyiduk camp.”