More than 100 people, mostly students, are being held for ransom by kidnappers in Ethiopia. They are the latest victims of a wave of abductions in the troubled country.Â
The kidnappings are centered in the unstable Oromia region. Buses traveling from a university in the area to the capital Addis Ababa this month were attacked and the passengers were taken.Â
Such incidents are nothing new. It's now "very rare" to find a family "that has not been affected by kidnapping," one local said to The Guardian in January. "The government has no control" over the problem.Â
Not all abductions are for "political aims," said The Guardian. In Ethiopia's "broken economy," collecting ransoms is seen as "easy money," and "anyone can be a target."Â
Last year, the nongovernmental Ethiopian Human Rights Council said victims of the kidnapping scourge "often endure torture, cruel treatment and detainment under inhumane conditions, constituting severe crimes against human dignity."Â
Last summer, more than 50 passengers traveling from the Amhara region to Addis Ababa were kidnapped, and in late 2019, 18 university students in Oromia were said to have been captured by armed attackers. Although Oromia is a "hot spot" for abductions, kidnappers also operate elsewhere, said the BBC, such as the "war-scarred regions" of Tigray and Amhara.Â
The government's response has been "ham-fisted," characterized by "arbitrary arrests and unlawful killings," according to the state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. The U.S. Department of State has issued a traveling warning for Oromia since 2016. |