Falls Church, Virginia (05/12/2022) – On May 13, 2022, rallies will be held in the US, Canada, and Switzerland to protest recents acts of violence and human rights abuses that have been perpetrated by members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Oromia regional forces, and Amhara militias (fano) against Oromo civilians since the declaration of a new military operation in Oromia in early April.
As previously reported by OLLAA, since the start of the new military operation inside Oromia, there have been reports of violent attacks against civilians by federal and regional forces, including reports of drone strikes in the West Shewa and East Wollega zones. These attacks have included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and the destruction of civilian property. Amhara militias (fano) have also launched attacks against Oromo civilians throughout the past month, both inside Oromia and in the Wollo Oromia Special zone of the Amhara region following calls from a leader of the Amhara Fano to “eliminate” the Oromo from the zone. Recent reporting from UN OCHA indicates that 500,000 people have recently been displaced within Western Oromia due to “intensified hostilities and inter-communal violence.”
OLLAA supports the organizers of these rallies and all protesters who will join them tomorrow and encourages other communities to take part. We urge local community members to also contact their representatives to ensure their voices are heard. We continue to 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. We further call for the Ethiopian government to protect its civilian population, to launch independent investigations into all allegations of abuses committed against civilians in Oromia, and to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice. We also call on the international community to consider launching independent investigations into these, and other, allegations of human rights abuses throughout Ethiopia.
The rallies will be held at the following locations:
- Minneapolis, MN, USA: Hennepin County Government Center, 2:00 pm CST
- Washington, DC, USA: US State Department, 10:30 am EDT
- Toronto, Canada: Dundas Square, 12:00 pm EDT
- Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, 11:30 am CEST
OLLAA is an umbrella organization that represents dozens of Oromo communities around the world.