ESAT News (February 04, 2016)
A 14
member committee representing the people of Wolkait was detained by authorities
while they were in Addis Ababa to file formal complaints by the Wolkait people
who demanded that they be incorporated to the Amhara region, as they were
Amharas, opposing their current status under the Tigray region. The Wolkait
people have been challenging the government saying their region was forcefully incorporated under the Tigray region 25 years
ago when the ruling Tigrayan party, TPLF, took control of the central
government.
Members of the committee were
taken into custody while they were on their way out from the House of the
Federation, Ethiopia’s upper house, after presenting their official complaints
representing the people of Wolkait.
A vocal representative of the
Wolkait in North America, Chalachew Abay told ESAT that the whereabouts of the
14 people is not yet known.
The Wolkait-Tegede region was
historically with in the Gondar region of Amhara, but the ruling TPLF
incorporated the region to Tigray 25 years ago, in what was seen as an attempt
to integrate huge tract of fertile land to the otherwise barren region of
Tigray. The people have since been demanding their identities to be respected
as Amharas and their region to be incorporated back to Gondar.
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