Statement on the Killing of Mr. Batte Urgessa

The Board of Oromo Community Organization of Washington DC Metro Area is terrified to learn of the cold-blooded murder of Mr. Batte Urgessa on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Mr. Batte was a prominent member and a high-ranking official of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Mr. Batte was reportedly forcibly removed from his hotel room at night, and his bullet-riddled body was later found in a ditch a few miles away from where he was taken.

Mr. Batte is among several exiled opposition party leaders who accepted PM Abiy Ahmed's 2018 amnesty offer and invitation to return home and participate in a peaceful democratic process. Unfortunately, he was also one of the best and brightest opposition leaders who are either incarcerated or eliminated without due process. With this barbaric murder of Mr. Batte, there have been too many political assassinations of politicians and activists in Ethiopia, and yet no one has been held to account to date.

The Board of Oromo Community Organization condemns, in the strongest possible terms, these extrajudicial killings of innocent civilians for their political beliefs. The Board also calls for an international investigative body to conduct a credible and impartial investigation so that accountability and justice are served for the murder of Mr. Batte Urgessa. It is critical that those responsible for such heinous crimes are held accountable and that law and order prevail to prevent further mainstreaming of violence in that country.