Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Simmering feuds between the two predominant ethnic groups in Ethiopia - the Oromo and the Amhara - since June 2000, claimed the lives of at least 100 people and displaced nearly 11,000 others in east Wollega zone of the Oromiya regional state in western Ethiopia, rightists said Wednesday.

The Ethiopian human rights council said Wednesday in a lengthy special report that the incident occurred in a locality in Ghida Kiramu Woreda (district) of east Wollega. It listed the names of the 100 people that had died in a series of incidents in the locality, alleging that those killed were between 2 years and 60 years of age, six of them women.

The report further disclosed that five of the victims were killed each along with one to seven of their family members.

In the first detailed account of the incident, the 38th special report of the Ethiopian human rights advocate group asserted that the ethnic feud in East Wollega had been simmering since June. It started when officials of Ghida Kiramu Woreda allegedly decided to "expel" Amhara settlers in the area for "destroying forest and trees in the locality for farming purposes."

The report said the feud that ensued was "hushed up" until late in December 2000. But this time, armed groups in the area disarmed the Amhara militia in the locality while their rivals were attending a meeting.

Sixty Amhara militia members were arrested at the time and taken to Nekempte, the west Wollega zonal capital, where they were kept under detention.

The report said another armed group from east Wollega zone tried to disarm the remaining Amhara militia members in the now trouble-prone locality of Ghia Kiramu Woreda. But that prompted fighting when the militia members refused to be disarmed, resulting in the death of the w Woreda police chief and the wounding of the Woreda administrator. The fighting soon spread to other localities where "the poorly armed Amharas were not a match to the heavily armed Oromiya regional police," it said.

The Amharas were forced to flee across the Blue Nile to the town of Bure in west Gojjan zone of Amhara regional state.

However, the government press has not reported the series of incidents of ethnic feud since early December.

The report said over 10,900 Amharas that were forced to flee their domicile in the locality of Ghida Kiramu Woreda walked for three days to Bure, a distance of some 100 kilometres.

Kuma Demekssa, chief executive of the regional state, has said twice last week charged the private press on state television of exaggerating the incidents in east Wollega zone.

He blamed "few die-hard" elements from both ethnic groups in and outside of the area of having "fuelled minor incidents," resulting in the disturbances, but gave no casualty figures.