Targeting of humanitarian workers in Ethiopia must stop as the recent abduction and murder of Yared Melese underscores the need for the country to ensure the protection of aid workers.
Development Diaries reports that Malese, an employee of the Action for Social Development and Environmental Protection Organisation (ASDEPO), was abducted for ransom and subsequently murdered by an unidentified armed group operating within the Dawunt district of North Wollo Zone, Amhara Region.
This incident follows a worrisome trend in the country that has seen violence towards aid workers rise in recent months.
We understand that Malese’s murder brings the number of aid workers killed in Ethiopia this year to eight, with six of those deaths occurring in Amhara.
Also, 14 kidnappings of aid workers for ransom have been reported in 2024, primarily in the Central and North Gondar zones.
Four Ethiopian aid workers have lost their lives since the beginning of 2024. Two of these fatalities occurred in the Amhara region, with the others in the Afar and Gambela regions.
‘We condemn in the strongest terms the kidnapping for ransom and subsequent killing of our colleague, Mr. Yared Melese, by criminals, while he was serving in the line of duty’, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia, Ramiz Alakbarov, said in a statement.
According to OCHA, a total of 46 aid workers have been killed in Ethiopia since 2019, with 36 of these deaths directly linked to conflicts in northern Ethiopia.
Attacks against humanitarian workers and their premises and assets violate international law, yet we are seeing increasing disregard for these laws, and a failure to hold attackers accountable.
We call on Ethiopia’s security institutions, especially the Ethiopian Federal Police, to speedily investigate the killing of Malese and ensure necessary steps are taken to bring the perpetrators of this and previously committed crimes to justice
We also urge the Ethiopian government to step up efforts to protect humanitarian workers, assets and premises as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 2730 which was adopted in May this year and to hold perpetrators to account for violations.
Photo source: Addis Standard
