Three researchers were the victims of mob attack where the two were stoned to death and one was critically injured in West Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Regional State
(BBC Africa)– In October last year (2018), three research scientists from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa traveled to a village called Gonji in the country’s Amhara region to investigate intestinal worms and the eye disease trachoma at a local school.
Two of them were killed by a mob who believed they were there to poison the children. Haileyesus Mulu survived, but with life-changing injuries.
For BBC Africa’s Factfinder, Fathiya Nur has been to the village to find out what happened. (Producers: Anthony Irungu and Yedeta Berhanu.)
Background Story
With the growing level of sporadic violence happening around the country, three researchers became the latest victims of mob attack where the two were stoned to death and one was critically injured in West Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Regional State, according to The Reporter.
The incident occurred in the afternoon of October 23, 2018, where Wossen Tafere, a researcher and a PhD candidate at the Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources and his friend, Mandfero Abi, were killed while conducting a research at a school in West Gojiam Zone, Gonji Kola Wereda at a town called Addis Alem.
In addition, Hailyesus Mulu, a lab technician who works in the same town where the attack had occurred and was assigned by the woreda health office to assist the two researchers, was also critically injured in incident and is now receiving treatment in Feleghiwot Hospital in Bahir Dar.
The main researcher, Wossen, was conducting a field research entitled “Estimation of Disease Burden Attributable to Poor Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Provision in Two Districts of the Amhara Region, Ethiopia – A Comparative Study”.
Read the complete story at The Reporter