Three years in the past, Ethiopia emerged from a bloody conflict within the northern Tigray area which claimed at the least 6,00,000 lives, in accordance with the African Union.
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“Rebels in Ethiopia’s most populous area of Oromia have dedicated abstract executions, gang rapes and sexual slavery towards girls and ladies between 2020 and 2024,” Amnesty Worldwide stated on Friday (March 6, 2026).
Learn | Ethiopia: A litany of human rights abuses
“Oromia is an unlimited area stretching throughout roughly a 3rd of Ethiopia and residential to 40 million folks, the place the army has been combating an rebel group,” the Oromo Liberation Military (OLA), since 2018.
Amnesty interviewed 10 survivors of sexual violence in two districts of Oromia, together with seven who have been minors on the time of their assaults, in addition to well being professionals.
“9 had been attacked by OLA fighters, whereas one endured violence from each an (Ethiopian Military) soldier and OLA fighters,” Amnesty stated in a report.
5 have been held in sexual slavery, and two fell pregnant from the abuse they endured. “For 3 weeks, 15 males raped my youngster and me. They took turns,” a mom instructed Amnesty.
The mom and daughter have been held for 3 weeks, “their fingers tied to a tree the place they have been raped by a number of males from the OLA,” the report stated.
“These cowardly acts have been partly enabled by a communication blackout that shut out the remainder of world to the sustained atrocities towards civilians,” stated Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty’s regional director for east and southern Africa. “These repeated abuses should not solely horrific however could quantity to conflict crimes.”
The ladies instructed Amnesty that they believed they have been “raped by OLA fighters as a reprisal for having husbands, brothers or fathers in authorities forces.” One lady stated her husband was killed whereas making an attempt to guard her.
These atrocities have been “perpetrated in a local weather of impunity,” stated Chagutah, hoping the report would function a “wake-up name”. Ethiopia, residence to roughly 130 million folks, is at the moment enduring a number of armed conflicts.
Learn | Rebels kill 48 in Ethiopia’s Oromia: rights company
Amhara, the second most populous area, has additionally been stricken by clashes since 2023 between the federal military and rebels.
Three years in the past, the nation emerged from a bloody conflict within the northern Tigray area which claimed at the least 6,00,000 lives, in accordance with the African Union.
A whole lot of 1000’s of Tigrayans stay displaced and there are fears of renewed combating within the area.
Revealed – March 06, 2026 01:07 pm IST