The families in the Hayiq Jari 2 Turk camp in Ethiopia’s Amhara region had already left home once. On Oct. 29, drones struck the place where they had gone to be safe, killing at least 15 people, five of them children, according to Reuters. Local accounts put the toll at 16, with dozens more wounded.
Nobody has said who flew them. Residents did not identify the operator, and as of Friday the army’s communications office and the South Wollo zone administration had not answered calls and messages. The federal government has issued no public statement. The dead are Black Ethiopians, many of them Oromo families displaced from Wollega, in a war that rarely reaches Western front pages.
The camp, near the town of Hayiq about 430 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa, shelters more than 1,800 people, most in plastic shelters. The attack began around 11 a.m. A witness said the drone hit the camp “five times, at least, at intervals of 15 minutes, while IDPs were inside their shelters.” More than 20 shelters caught fire, and families scattered, some not knowing where their relatives were.
The dead included three pregnant women, an 8-year-old girl and students, according to allAfrica. A hospital source said 36 wounded people reached the hospital in Hayiq, among them eight children and ten women. Twelve were sent on to a larger hospital in Dessie. At least 15 of the dead were buried together in one grave.
Survivors say there was a warning. One witness told Reuters a drone had circled the camp on the days before the strike without firing. Reuters reported that no fighting was under way near the camp.
Since 2023, federal forces and Fano militias have fought across Amhara, and drones have been part of that war. The UN human rights office has urged all parties to avoid unlawful attacks and protect civilians. In January, the Ethiopian army told local authorities that a drone strike that killed around 40 allied fighters in Waghemira was a “mistake,” even though the drone had reportedly hovered over the camp before firing.
For people in camps like Hayiq, the danger did not end when they fled. Aid groups have largely withdrawn, and residents describe shortages of food, medicine and shelter. “We have no shelter or food,” one displaced person said. “It might be better to go into the city and sleep on the street.” After the attack, survivors moved into a local school.
The toll may still rise as the wounded are treated. The army and the zone administration have yet to say whether they will respond.
Have your say