Falls Church, Virginia (1/3/2023) – On January 3, 2023, the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) issued a statement announcing the continuation of their campaign to “destroy the Shene armed forces under the region and to create a stable zone.” (Shene is a term frequently used by members of the Ethiopian government to refer to the Oromo Liberation Army) In the statement, they also claimed that their joint forces had recently recaptured eight villages from OLA control throughout southern Oromia. This operation is a continuation of the military offensive that was launched in April 2022. Since its launch, there have been credible reports of violations of Oromo civilians’ rights by Ethiopian state agents, including drone attacks that have led to the deaths of civilians in recent months.
It is important to place the ongoing military operation inside Oromia inside the context of the numerous conflicts throughout Ethiopia, including the recent conflict between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government in northern Ethiopia. After facing tremendous pressure from the international community, in November 2022, the Ethiopian government and the TPLF entered into a peace agreement which, among other items, called for the establishment of a “comprehensive national transitional justice policy.” Since the peace agreement was signed, there have been growing calls for the Ethiopian government to enter into a similar peace agreement with the OLA, as a means to lay the groundwork for the adoption of a truly inclusive dialogue process and national transitional justice policy, including, most recently, by a group of 80 Members of Parliament from the Oromia region. In a recent press briefing, the US State Department also noted the rise in violence inside Oromia and called for “all armed actors to engage in political dialogue to end the fighting while exercising restraint and respecting the lives, the rights, and property of all those in Oromia.”
OLLAA regrets this most recent announcement by the ENDF of the continuation of their military campaign against the OLA, which appears to be a rejection of the calls from the US government and from within Oromia to find a peaceful means to end the conflict in Oromia. We fear the continuation of this campaign will lead to the further violation of civilians rights throughout the region and increasing instability throughout the Horn of Africa. As such, OLLAA calls on all actors to issue strong statements condemning the ongoing military campaign inside Oromia and calling for the Ethiopian federal and Oromia regional government forces to immediately cease efforts to “eliminate” the OLA militarily and instead seek peaceful means to address the conflicts inside Oromia, as it has done with the TPLF in northern Ethiopia.
OLLAA is an umbrella organization that works in collaboration
with dozens of Oromo communities around the world.