17 Years Later, Remembering the Anuak Massacre
Today marks 17 years since the brutal massacre on 424 Indigenous Anuak in Gambella, Ethiopia by EPRDF national forces and armed militia. On December 13, 2003, members of the Ethiopian military and militias formed from non-Anuak minority groups entered Gambella town in southwestern Ethiopia. Over the course of three days, they sought out, tortured and killed 424 men, burned houses, and scattered families. Since that time, the genocide and crimes against humanity have continued, raising the death toll between 1,500 and 2,500, and causing more than 50,000 Anuak to flee.
Previous to the December 13 massacre, tensions and small skirmishes related to land issues and regional autonomy did exist between minority groups and between the Anuak and the Ethiopian government. Because of this, the Ethiopian government has claimed that the killings have been a result of tribal warfare. However, never before has the scope of fighting been so cruel or large-scale, and through several separate investigations, it has become clear that the Ethiopian government not only authorized the attacks, but planned them as well.
The Anuak Nilotic society, whose homelands stretches across South Sudan-Akobo, Pochala, and Nassir, along the Sobat basin, have for decades been victims of widespread state-sponsored abuses. The Anuak agony begun in 1974 when the government declared state ownership of land, which destroyed their traditional political system, cultural values and norms, and economic self-reliance. In 1980s, the government settled large numbers of Tigray, Amhara, Kambata, and Hadiya among the Anuak and cleared vast tracts of fertile land they used for hunting, fishing, grazing and growing crops. They also constructed a dam on the Alwero River, a lifeline for large Anuak population of Abobo district, and settled more than half a million refugees among them, intensifying a cycle of violent conflicts.
The Anuak Massacre not only reminds the Anuak community about the failure of state responsibilities to protect citizens and the absence of rule of law, but it also sends a strong message to the authorities to outlaw a culture of impunity and discrimination based on ethnicity, religion and political affiliation. It also sets an example to other Ethiopians who have suffered similar atrocities and also grieved in silence, and opens the possibility of negotiating a National Memorial Day.
Sadly, the Anuak’s largely untold story is still fresh 17 years later. The state has neither apprehended suspects for atrocities nor served apologies or compensated victims’ families and survivors for heinous state-sponsored crimes. Instead, it continues to live in denial. Unidentified gunmen ambushed a vehicle belonging to the Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs, which was used as a pretext for unleashing terror. The anniversary today could, perhaps, signal not just the end of impunity but also the culture of hatred planted by a state system that discriminates against indigenous communities, despite claims to protect them.
During EPRDF, the Anuak community had no fundamental liberty to mourn and remember the Anuak Massacre with dignity. They were unable to openly express their feelings and tell their stories. On Anuak Memorial Day, Anuak in Gambella cannot join with Anuak in the Diaspora in observing the day because it was prohibited by EPRDF regime. For many years, many people were waiting to bury their loved ones properly because most of them were buried in mass graves.
After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s reform two years ago, the Anuak Massacre day is commemorated in Ethiopia. The day became an important annual event, signifying Anuak mass displacement and attempts to exterminate them. The fear of imprisonment and arbitrary killings disappear.The veil of fear was lifted. The people of Gambella are now faceing this ugly day with hope. Victims’ families have been permitted to sit together to openly acknowledge deep sorrow and be joined by the wider society to mourn as a community, visit graves, and remember those buried en masse in unknown locations.
