The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has documented civilian killings, unlawful detentions, abductions for ransom and complaints of enforced disappearance across much of the country in its fifth annual report, released in Addis Ababa on 9 October.
The report covers June 2025 to June 2026. The commission described the state of the right to life and personal security as "alarming", according to The Reporter, which covered the briefing by Chief Commissioner Birhanu Adelo.
The commission said fighting in Amhara between government forces and groups it calls "Fano" and "Qemant armed groups" killed and injured civilians. In Oromia, clashes between government forces and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which it calls "OLF-Shane", and attacks on civilians caused deaths and displacement. It also recorded deadly attacks in Benishangul-Gumuz, South Ethiopia, Gambella, Central Ethiopia and Somali Region.
The full Amharic report lists incidents by date and place, Mereja reported. They include an attack in Gambella's Itang special woreda on 24 December 2025 that killed 64 people, an OLA attack in Bulen woreda, Benishangul-Gumuz, that killed 40 on 22 November 2025, and the killing of seven people by government forces in Munesa woreda, Arsi Zone, on 6 November 2025.
The executive summary describes a "widespread practice" in Amhara of detaining people on grounds of "current affairs" or suspicion of being "Fano cells". It says abductions for ransom were prevalent in Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella and Oromia, and that hostages unable to pay were frequently subjected to grave abuses, including killing.
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The commission documented complaints of enforced disappearance in Amhara, South Ethiopia and Oromia, as well as arrests without warrants, prolonged pre-trial detention and failures to obey court orders for release. Its monitors visited 98 prisons, 649 police stations and 10 unofficial places of detention.
Large numbers of children in Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Somali, Oromia, South Ethiopia and Tigray had no access to education, the report says. It also records forced conscription in parts of Tigray.
At the briefing, Birhanu described the violence in the north as a localised clash rather than a full-scale war and played down reports of forced conscription, The Reporter said. Mereja, citing DW Amharic, reported that he said the commission treats the fighting as an "armed conflict" under international definitions.
The commission also listed gains, saying more than 600 prisoners were released on 10 September and over 729 had been freed in total. Its reporting period ended before the renewed northern fighting that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said gravely concerns him.
