The civilian situation in the midst of armed conflict in the Guji Zones of Oromia:
“There’s really no such thing as the voiceless. There are only the deliberately silenced or the preferably unheard.” – Arundhati Roy
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- Introduction
A disastrous armed conflict has been ongoing in Oromia, particularly within the two Guji zones, for the past five years. Compared to the wide variety of broadcasts and media reports of other armed conflicts within Ethiopia, the suffering of civilians in Guji has not been covered in the media, leaving civilians to suffer human rights violations in silence.
To understand the historical context for this conflict, it is important to turn one’s attention to 2018 when the previous authoritarian regime governed by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was forced to reform itself as a result of protests led by the Oromo people. The Ethiopian Prime Minister at the time, Hailemaria Desalegn, resigned from his position on 15 February 2018, and Abiy Ahmed became the new Prime Minister in April 2018. As part of his reform agenda, Abiy Ahmed released thousands of political prisoners, took some measures to reform justice institutions, and removed specific organizations from Ethiopia’s list of terrorist organizations. Consequently, these reforms and the Asmara agreement enabled the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) to return to Ethiopia from Eritrea.
However, the agreement ultimately failed to bear fruit as, according to the OLA, members of the OLF who laid down their arms experienced mistreatment, it was reported that one OLF leader was executed. As a result, the OLA split from the OLF.
Since that split, the Ethiopian government and the OLA have been engaged in conflict, and the OLA created bases of operation within the western and southern parts of Oromia. The Guji zones are one of the areas that have been at the center of the armed conflict, with the main actors being the OLA and Ethiopian government security forces, including the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF), Oromia Special Forces (OSF), Federal Police, Oromia regular police, and local militias.
As the conflict between OLA and the government forces increased, multiple states of emergency were declared and the civilians were forced to pay the largest price; the loss of their security and their lives. This created a cascade of turmoil for civilians in the region. During the past five years of war between the OLA and Ethiopian government forces, civilians in Guji have been subjected to extra-judicial killings, mass arrests, rape and other sexual violence, property destruction, enforced disappearances, forced requirements, and other damaging violations of their human rights.(Amnesty International 2019)
It is against this backdrop that Oromo Legacy Leadership & Advocacy Association (OLLAA) began to investigate the human rights abuses against civilians in the Guji zones. This report provides information compiled from primary and secondary data sources from 2018 to March 2023. This investigation’s primary sources include interviews conducted with three residents from the Guji zones, as well as a list of ongoing violations that were compiled by Guji community members in the diaspora. Additionally, secondary sources were consulted, including reports from other organizations and media outlets.
Following outbreak of conflict in April 2018, source Medicines Sans Frontieres Doctors Without Boarders-
- Human Rights Violations
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- Arbitrary arrest & detention
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- Human Rights Violations
Arbitrary and mass arrests of civilians have been commonly reported in the Guji zones. The government security forces are known to arrest civilians based on false claims of either being supporters or members of OLA. Amnesty International reported on these arrests in its 2019/2020 annual report. Testimonies from informants and a document obtained from members of the Oromo diaspora community confirm that Oromo community members were detained as a result of claims that they were OLA, supporters, members or relatives. Often, after Oromo community members were arbitrarily detained, their rights to a fair and public hearing were not observed by those detaining them. Many of the claims against these prisoners were never presented at court, and no criminal charges were formally brought against them. However, rather than being released, individuals remain detained at subpar facilities. According to one informant, today, schools and other government facilities not meant to house prisoners are serving as prison centers because the prisons are over capacity. Though other facilities are unprepared to house prisoners, the conditions in the prison facilities are reportedly worse.
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- Extrajudicial killings
Extrajudicial killings are among the most gruesome human rights violations taking place in the Guji zones. One document obtained from community members shares a partial list of victims of these extrajudicial executions, including seven prisoners who were executed in different prisons in the Guji zone, including:
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- Galma Utura, Dhadacha Mi’essa, and Abdulahi Golu, who were all removed from the prison in Raro, Goro Dola district on 28 September 2019 and executed. This is corroborated by the report by Amnesty International of 2019.
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- Another victim, Badhu Golicha, was taken from prison by members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force on 02 February 2023 in Hardot, Liban district and executed.,
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- Osuman Abdulah was taken from a prison center in Jidola, Goro Dola district and executed in July 2022.
According to the informants, there are two notorious places where government extrajudicially executes prisoners. In Bule Hora, there is a place called ‘Network,’ the place where prisoners are taken and executed. In a similar manner in Dugda Dawa district, there is a place called ‘Qera’ place where political prisoners are executed after being taken out of prison facilities. Members of the Oromo diaspora community also reported that an unknown number of prisoners were removed from prison facilities in Darme town, executed, and buried in mass graves on 24 December 2021.
According to the information obtained from community members within the Guji zones, hundreds of civilians have been killed since 2019 for different reasons. Unfortunately, only deaths where the location and date of the execution were recorded and well-known are listed. If a body was not found, then it is not included in the community members’ records. There have been numerous reports that Ethiopian government forces have killed civilians after alleging they were members or supporters of OLA, while transporting prisoners to other holding areas and as retribution after being defeated by OLA forces, informants said. Among the reported deaths, two individuals were publicly beheaded in broad daylight in an attempt to threaten and terrorize the public. An individual named Abba Banga, who is a member of the Ethiopian national defense force and a local militia, reportedly beheaded Horo Areri and his son Kuse Horo in May 2020 in Saba Boru district. Both interviews with the informants and the document mentioned above confirmed the incident.
Other civilians were killed in different districts of the Guji zones under the accusation that they were either supporters or members of OLA. According to the document OLLAA obtained from the Oromo communities from the diaspora, in January 2022, 14 civilians were publicly executed by government security forces in Birbira Kojawa Ela Dima town in the West Guji zone. Incidents like these are not uncommon. The Fincawa, Goro Dola, and Gelana districts are where these extra-judicial killings are prevalent. After these executions took place, the families of the victims were denied the remnants of their loved ones in many cases. According to the same sources, One example was on December 28, 2018 when 18 civilians in Fincawa district were shot to death and then burned within their homes.
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- Property destruction and forced displacement
Displacement is common in armed conflict. In the Guji zones, civilians have been displaced for different reasons. According to informants, members of the government security forces often removed civilians from their homes and destroyed their farmlands in an attempt to take control of local resources, such as available gold mines. For example, the informants reported that on September 29, 2019 in Garbicho Roga, Bule Hora district, government forces destroyed homes and hectares of coffee, enset, maize, and other vegetables of community members like Dambobi Dhugo and Bobas Hantute under the pretext that the farmers were OLA supporters. Local militias also took cattle, goats, motorbikes, and other pieces of the farmers’ personal property by force.
According to two informants, both OLA and government security forces routinely abduct civilians. Enforced disappearances are rampant in the two Guji zones and this situation is worse for women and children. The information obtained from both the informants and the documents revealed that there have been dozens of reported rape cases, including an incident involving the assault of a 70-year-old woman. There was also an incident where two members of the government security force raped a woman and were immediately arrested by the local police. However, a commander ordered the release of the criminals and they were not held accountable for their crimes. Furthermore, the informants told OLLAA the existence of security personnel who arrest husbands just to rape and sexually abuse their wives.
Children are also traumatized. Three informants indicated instances of children being forced to terminate their education and pick up arms to fight with their captors. To avoid being terrorized by the effects of war citizens have to flee their homes and fend for themselves. Informants have shared that in Bule Hora and the surrounding towns, displaced mothers and their children have been forced to beg for food on the streets because their husbands have either been imprisoned or killed. One of the informants pointed out in interviews that it seemed as if the government was fighting civilians in all aspects of life.
In addition to the conflict, the ongoing drought in Ethiopia has also caused displacement and humanitarian crises in the Guji zones. According to the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 701,518 people in the West Guji Zone need humanitarian aid to survive. On top of that, the informants confirmed that the government has denied access to humanitarian organizations in certain places controlled by the OLA. As a result of this, the residents in these zones are suffering both man-made and natural disasters.
The picture was taken from a video showing how Oromia police set alight to house and pose for picture.-
- The formation of the East Borena Zone and the human rights situation in Guji
Recently the Oromia region administration announced the formation of the new East Borena Zone from parts of the Borena, East Guji, and Bale Zones. The government claims that the formation of the new zone will facilitate good governance and development. However, one of the informants claimed this decision was arbitrary in the sense that the people from all districts were not consulted and were forced to rezone. It appears no one, not even the Guji zone administration or representatives from the federal or regional administrations, consulted residents about the decision. The other informant added that government members like the Ethiopian National Army chief, Field Marshal Biranu Jula, talked with the Guji Abba Gada and indicated that certain measures may be taken if OLA members were not removed from the zones. He warned them they will take measures unless the Guji Community stopped supporting OLA.
Following the decisions about the new zone, the citizens in Guji protested and rallied in different districts. All three informants mentioned that the creation of the new zone was not a problem by itself. They proclaimed that “Oromia is all ours”. Rather the community members oppose the intention and the procedural injustice that has proceeded the announcement of the new zone. According to the informants, the government took measures that claimed the lives of some of the protesters and physically injured others. Three protesters, Mi’essa Hessa, Nenqo Wate, and Guyo Xephiso, were shot and killed by Oromia special forces during the Funerary 28, 2023 protest. During the protests, a significant number of protesters and non-protesters were arrested and detained in several prison facilities. According to the informants, some district officials were also imprisoned. There are signs that the possible conflicts between the Guji and Borena will erupt due to the same problems involving government injustice. Currently, a very large number of Army troops have been deployed to these districts to maintain order and terrorize residents.
4. Conclusion
Civilians in Guji Zones are suffering from multiple and intersecting human rights violations due to the armed conflict. They are paying a huge price socially, politically, and economically. On top of the armed conflict and drought-induced famine, the formation of a new zone has increased the human rights and humanitarian crisis within Oromia. Therefore, OLLAA recommends the following:
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- The media must not be used as a tool to exacerbate the situation and create more tension.
- Policies that enforce accountability of abuses and also ensure appropriate remedies for the victims of those abuses must be formed.
- Hostilities must cease by both warring parties and negotiations must take place for the protection of civilian life.
- Since there are warning signs indicating an eruption of conflict between the Guji and Borena borders, immediate measures should be taken by stakeholders to reach concessions.
- The Abba Gadas, clan leaders, and local activists should work together to address the challenges surrounding the formation of the East Borana zone, with key consideration being given to the protection of civilian rights.