Falls Church, Virginia (04/11/2022) – On April 9, 2022, the Ethiopian federal and Oromia regional government announced that they had launched a military campaign aimed at eliminating the OLA from inside the Oromia region. Although it was officially announced on Saturday, reports indicate that this renewed offensive began on April 2nd in Moyale, Borana zone, an area already experiencing a humanitarian crisis because of drought.
This is not the first time that the Ethiopian government has launched a military offensive ostensibly aimed at eliminating the OLA from the Oromia region. In December 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared a de facto state of emergency in the Oromia region and installed military command posts in western and southern Oromia region with the express mission of launching a military offensive against the OLA. This military offensive did not succeed in eliminating the OLA, and instead, led to a series of human rights abuses being committed by Ethiopian security forces associated with these command posts against Oromo civilians, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, extrajudicial executions, and the destruction of property, which continue to this day. Often, government security forces will attempt to justify their attacks on civilian populations with claims that the victims were connected to the OLA, although such “connections” are generally tenuous, at best.
OLLAA is gravely concerned at the effect this renewed military offensive will have on the civilian population of Oromia region. Not only have government efforts to eliminate the OLA through military action failed in the past, they have led to a massive increase in human rights violations perpetrated against Oromo civilians. Given the effects of the drought on the entire population of southern Oromia, we also fear that such a military offensive will only serve to exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in the region.
We also must note that it seems incredibly disingenuous on the part of the Ethiopian government to declare a humanitarian truce in the northern regions of Ethiopia while simultaneously launching attacks in regions to the south. We fear that such actions can only serve to undercut the calls for lasting peace throughout Ethiopia. As such, OLLAA applauds the recent statement by the executive committee of the Oromo Federalist Congress calling for the Ethiopian government to retract its rhetoric calling for the elimination of the OLA, and noting fears that “this new military campaign will only dampen the newly opened narrow window for peace and put Oromia and the entire country into a precarious situation.” We call on all actors, including those inside Ethiopia and the international community, to issue strong statements condemning the decision to launch a 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 is doing with TPLF in northern Ethiopia.
OLLAA is an umbrella organization that represents dozens of Oromo communities around the world.