Okello Okidi, the commander of Lwa Chiri and the Gambella People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM), was reportedly killed on 26/01/2026 in 04 Kebele, Gambella town, by the Ethiopian National Defence Force. Okello spilled the blood of countless innocent Gambellians over nearly five decades.

Born in Chotgur, Lare Woreda, Okello’s criminal history began around 1980 G.C. He was likely a teenager when he, together with other Anyuaks from Chotgur, apprehended and executed teachers of Amhara, Oromo, and Tigrean backgrounds who were educating Anyuak children in the village.

After the killings, Okello and many others fled to Sudan. Many never returned to Ethiopia. The villages of Chotgur and Nyang Nyikual—the latter being the home village of former Minister of Peace Ogat Ading were deserted due to fear of reprisals from Derg forces.

A year later, Nyang was reoccupied, and two years after that, Anyuaks began returning to Chotgur. Okello, however, did not return.

At the time, there was fear that schools would turn villages into Nuer hubs because, unlike today, many schools during the Derg era in Jokow Woreda were located in Anyuak villages. Places such as Berhane Selam, Chotgur, Edine, and others were where many Nuer students began their early education.

After fleeing to Sudan, Okello joined the rebellion against the Derg regime led by Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.

When the Derg was toppled by Woyane and Shabia, Okello returned to Ethiopia under the GPLM banner.

The GPLM was brutal in its campaign to forcibly remove Nuer communities from Ethiopia. Throughout the 1990s, their violence claimed the lives of many Nuers, Oromos, Tigreans, and Amharas, driven by a vision of turning Gambella into an Anyuak-only region an ideology clearly rejected by Ethiopia’s constitution.

This extremist ambition also led to the death of Gambella’s first president, Ato Agua Alemu, a moderate Anyuak who believed in peaceful coexistence among all Gambella communities.

Agua’s views clashed with Okello and the GPLM leadership, and he was ultimately killed by his fellow Anyuaks, who saw him as an obstacle to their agenda.

Following Agua’s assassination, a rift emerged between the GPLM and EPRDF forces. In the summer of 1992 G.C., the GPLM command post in Abol was destroyed.

Okello survived but was unable to seriously threaten Gambella’s security until 2003, when he fled to Eritrea, where he trained and gained further insurgency experience.

He later returned to Ethiopia following peace deals that brought several rebel groups—such as the OLF back into the country.

Under Omot Obang’s leadership, which gave the GPLM a lifeline, Okello resumed his violent campaign against Nuers and Highlanders, attacking areas such as Puldeng, Pulkhota, Itang, and Berberseb.

While Okello’s death may not end violence in Gambella, it sends a clear message: anyone who follows his radical and violent path will likely meet the same fate.

This article was written by Pel Kun Chol, a Gambella Native from Lare Woreda.