Three years ago, Ethiopia emerged from a bloody war in the northern Tigray region which claimed at least 6,00,000 lives, according to the African Union.
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“Rebels in Ethiopia’s most populous region of Oromia have committed summary executions, gang rapes and sexual slavery against women and girls between 2020 and 2024,” Amnesty International said on Friday (March 6, 2026).
Read | Ethiopia: A litany of human rights abuses
“Oromia is a vast region stretching across roughly a third of Ethiopia and home to 40 million people, where the military has been fighting an insurgent group,” the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), since 2018.
Amnesty interviewed 10 survivors of sexual violence in two districts of Oromia, including seven who were minors at the time of their assaults, as well as health professionals.
“Nine had been attacked by OLA fighters, while one endured violence from both an (Ethiopian Army) soldier and OLA fighters,” Amnesty said in a report.
Five were held in sexual slavery, and two fell pregnant from the abuse they endured. “For three weeks, 15 men raped my child and me. They took turns,” a mother told Amnesty.
The mother and daughter were held for three weeks, “their hands tied to a tree where they were raped by multiple men from the OLA,” the report said.
“These cowardly acts were partly enabled by a communication blackout that shut out the rest of world to the sustained atrocities against civilians,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty’s regional director for east and southern Africa. “These repeated abuses are not only horrific but may amount to war crimes.”
The women told Amnesty that they believed they were “raped by OLA fighters as a reprisal for having husbands, brothers or fathers in government forces.” One woman said her husband was killed while trying to protect her.
These atrocities were “perpetrated in a climate of impunity,” said Chagutah, hoping the report would serve as a “wake-up call”. Ethiopia, home to roughly 130 million people, is currently enduring several armed conflicts.
Read | Rebels kill 48 in Ethiopia’s Oromia: rights agency
Amhara, the second most populous region, has also been plagued by clashes since 2023 between the federal army and rebels.
Three years ago, the country emerged from a bloody war in the northern Tigray region which claimed at least 6,00,000 lives, according to the African Union.
Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans remain displaced and there are fears of renewed fighting in the region.
Published – March 06, 2026 01:07 pm IST
