Photo: Funeral ceremony of specialist Dr. Andualem Dagne in Bahir Dar

By Eyob Tilahun Abera

Widespread unlawful killings of innocent Amhara intellectuals by Abiy’s forces have become common, and health workers are top victims. Since the war sparked in the Amhara region, many health professionals have been killed and jailed by the regime with claims that ”you treated Fano freedom fighters when they were wounded.”

Human Rights reported that Ethiopian security forces have committed widespread killings amounting to war crimes against medical professionals, patients, and health facilities in the country’s northwestern Amhara region.

Among these, Dr. Andualem Dagne is a victim of recent killings by Abiy’s forces in Bahir Dar, the regional capital city. Indeed, the people who have a rational mentality are at the boiling point of their anger because of Dr. Andualem Dagne’s unlawful killing by Abiy’s forces. Eyewitnesses reported that Abiy’s forces killed him with guns. Of course, it is not the first time that Abiy’s regime killed brilliant intellectuals in Amhara.

Abiy’s regime firmly ordered health professionals to refuse to treat wounded Fano freedom fighters, which contradicts health professionals’ oath to treat their patients without any criteria. Indeed, Fano fighters did not visit government-run hospitals because Abiy’s forces illegally slaughtered injured Fano fighters in hospital beds, and for this, there is enough evidence.

Let us assume that health professionals treated injured Fano combatants; the execution of healthcare personnel and wounded Fano presented at hospital beds by Abiy’s forces as the response is unacceptable by any standard, and it violates international human rights.

During Dr. Andualem Dagne‘s funeral ceremony, the wider community and health workers condemned the regime’s killings of health professionals, concluding that such killings are the murder of the country. They recognised Dr Andualem Dagne as an extraordinary person—a gold-medal award winner from undergraduate to subspeciality—who became a subspecialist medical doctor at the age of 37.

Health professionals such as Dr. Gashu Kindu, witnessed, “Dr. Andualem Dagne, a surgeon and a liver, pancreas, and bile duct sub-specialist working at Bahir Dar University Hospital, was brutally murdered by Abiy’s troops. Abiy’s forces looted, shut down, and interrupted 50 hospitals, 509 health centres, 1850 health infrastructures, more than 350 ambulances, and 338 health infrastructure projects in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.”

“This ‘Black Nazi Regime’ has caused physical and psychological harm to thousands of medical professionals, has taken their lives, and is also imprisoning many medical professionals in concentration camps, claiming that they have treated injured Fano Freedom Fighters.”

“This regime is spending foreign financial support on health programs such as the CDC, Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Global Fund. His troops are weakening the delivery of health services in the region by mismanaging financial resources and deporting the educated and skilled workforce that is the backbone of the health system.”

Generally, the ongoing murder of Amhara intellectuals by the regime is an indication of the turning point of the regime’s complete failure. Finally, rest in peace to those whose lives were cut short by Abiy’s regime.