The conduct of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) in Gambella represents one of the
General Mulat Not Doing what he supposed to be doing
gravest failures of state responsibility in recent Ethiopian history. For any Ethiopian old enough to remember a time when the ENDF projected authority, discipline, and deterrence, the current situation is nothing short of bewildering and disgraceful.
Gambella has become an active theatre of violence. Civilians are being killed repeatedly, families displaced, and entire communities terrorized. Yet the force constitutionally mandated to protect all Ethiopians has either stood aside or withdrawn in the face of armed attacks. This is not a security challenge—it is a collapse of will.
The victims of this violence are overwhelmingly civilians, particularly from the Nuer community, who are being targeted in what many residents describe as a campaign of terror and ethnic cleansing aimed at forcibly dislodging the Nuer from their ancestral lands.
These attacks are neither spontaneous nor isolated. They are systematic, recurring, and well known to authorities.
The Prime Minister has been informed repeatedly that for Peace to return to Gambella, the current President has to go so that the attackers do not get Sanctuary. ENDF is also aware with the links between the Gambella Leadership and the terrosrtist cells.
Despite this, ENDF units under the command of General Mulat have failed to act decisively. In Thaarpaam, where large numbers of civilians reside, reports indicate that scores were killed in a single day. The ENDF was conspicuously absent. No intervention. No protection. No accountability.
Even more alarming are reports from 22 December 2025, when an ENDF convoy attempting to reach the Nuer Zone was reportedly stopped by armed militants in Abol and forced to turn back. This incident is not merely embarrassing—it is a national humiliation. A national army retreating at the command of non-state armed groups signals a complete breakdown of authority.
Such conduct raises unavoidable questions. Is this leadership compromised? Is it negligent? Or has it simply abandoned its duty to protect certain citizens? Whether due to corruption, intimidation, or gross incompetence, the result is the same: civilians are left defenseless while perpetrators act with impunity.
This is not an isolated failure. In the violence of 2024, civilians from the Nuer ethnic group were killed under circumstances that should have triggered immediate investigations and disciplinary action. Instead, the pattern of silence and inaction has continued, reinforcing the perception that some lives in Ethiopia are treated as expendable.
The ENDF exists to defend the sovereignty of the state and the safety of all its citizens—without ethnic preference, political calculation, or fear. When it fails to do so, it erodes national unity and invites further violence.
The Prime Minister and federal leadership must act decisively. The command structure in Gambella must be reviewed immediately. Leadership that cannot or will not protect civilians must be removed. Continued inaction is not neutrality—it is complicity.
History will judge harshly those who had the authority to act and chose instead to look away.
This article reflects the views of the author.
Pam Chol Joack
Analyst on Gambella Affairs
