Content warning: This article discusses sexual violence, including against minors. Pseudonyms marked with an asterisk (*) are used throughout, consistent with Amnesty International's briefing.
A Briefing From the Blackout Zone
For seven years, a communication and media blackout has sealed off large parts of western Oromia from independent scrutiny. On March 6, 2026, Amnesty International pierced that silence with a briefing that documents gang rape, sexual slavery, summary killings, and mass displacement carried out by fighters of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) against civilians in two of the most remote districts in the country.
The briefing, titled "No one came to my rescue: Gang rape, sexual slavery and mass displacement of women in Oromia, Ethiopia," draws on interviews with 10 survivors of gang rape in Sayo and Anfillo woredas of Kellem Wallaga zone. According to Amnesty International, seven of the 10 survivors were under 18 at the time of the assaults. Five were also subjected to sexual slavery. The abuses documented span from 2020 to 2024.
"The harrowing testimonies of survivors we spoke with paint a grim picture of the brutality women and girls face in this conflict," Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, said in a statement accompanying the briefing.
Amnesty International states the documented abuses may amount to war crimes under international humanitarian law.
What the Briefing Documents
Of the 10 survivors interviewed by Amnesty International, nine were attacked by OLA fighters. One survivor endured violence from both an Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) soldier and OLA fighters, according to the briefing.
Among the cases detailed, a mother identified as Lalistu and her then-12-year-old daughter, Sebontu, were held for three weeks in a cave with their hands tied to a tree and raped by 15 men identified as OLA fighters, according to Amnesty International.
Another survivor, identified as Anisa*, was pregnant at the time of her interview as a result of sexual violence by OLA fighters at the end of 2024, the briefing states. In total, two of the 10 survivors fell pregnant as a result of the sexual violence they endured.
Amnesty International's briefing focuses specifically on abuses committed by OLA fighters. The organization has separately documented abuses by government forces — including the ENDF and Oromia regional security forces — in the same conflict zone in previous reporting. The inclusion of one survivor's account of violence by an ENDF soldier in this briefing underscores that civilians in western Oromia face threats from multiple armed actors.
A Conflict With No Peace Process
The armed conflict between the OLA — the former military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) — and the ENDF along with allied Oromia regional security forces erupted in 2019. Unlike the war in Tigray, which ended with the Pretoria Agreement in November 2022, the Oromia conflict has no active peace process.
