By Felagot Taddese Terefe, MD
Among the armed conflicts that has been ravaging over the lives of many Ethiopians in the past eight years, one is the long standing and ongoing conflict in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. This conflict, which started in 2019, has, as its parties, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), the former military wing of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), on the one hand, and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and Oromia regional security forces (Special Police Force, Oromia police, and local government militias), on the other. As documented by various reports, the civilian population has been carrying the toll of the conflict enduring loss of many lives, serious bodily injuries, psychological trauma as well as loss of livelihoods and displacement of communities. Unsurprisingly, women and girls have particularly been affected by the conflict being subjected to gang rape and other forms of sexual violence.
“Women cannot live in rural areas [of Kellem Wollega Zone] anymore.”[1]
In its brief report titled “No one came to my rescue” published in March 2026, Amnesty International attempted to give a glimpse of the sufferings of the women and girls who are survivors of conflict related sexual violence as a result of the ongoing conflict in Oromia region. The research outcome is primarily based on interviews from 10 victims of sexual violence in the Sayo and Anfillo districts of the Kellem Wollega zone, that is home to over one million people and among the areas where the conflict began and are strongholds of the OLA. Out of the 10 survivor interviewees, seven were underage at the time of the violence. All survivors were gang raped, while five experienced sexual slavery on top of being gang rape. Further, two survivors have given birth as a result of the sexual violence and one was pregnant when the interview was conducted in June 2025.
The victims underwent horrifying levels of violence that lasts for days and weeks. A mother, one victim, who was subjected to unimaginable violence together with her daughter, recounted the situation as:
“After they forced us to eat food [on the first day], they first raped my child. Then they stabbed me when I screamed, ‘Why are you violating my child?’ After they stabbed me, they also started to rape me. For three weeks, 15 men were raping my child and me. They used to take turns.”
Nine victims reported to have been raped by OLA fighters, while one was raped by both an ENDF soldier and OLA fighters. This survivor said “she was able to identify him [the ENDF member] because he was stationed in the area and is known by name in the village.” While victims reported that the perpetrators were openly announcing their identifies, the survivors were able to identify OLA affiliated aggressors by their braided hairstyles. During the interview with Amnesty International, the names of 13 perpetrators was shared.
One survivor said she was gang raped by OLA fighters while she went out to find her children who were playing outside once she noticed the breakout of an intense armed clash between government forces and OLA fighters in her village in 2022. After returning to her house, in an OLA controlled area, she recounted:
“Three fighters came to me and said, ‘You are returning after hiding weapons for government fighters.’ First, they hit my child while he was on my back using the rifle butt. Then they raped me in front of my two children, who were under 15 years old. They [the fighters] were 13 people, they took turns on me.”
In the analysis, the Amnesty report identified a pattern where OLA affiliated perpetrators committed the sexual violence against the women as a revenge to the victims having male relatives who joined government forces. It documented interviews where victims said they were told they were being violated as a punishment to their male family members fighting against them. One survivor was “subjected to sexual violence because OLA fighters had heard that her uncle was conscripted to join the local government militia”. Another said “she was gang raped by five OLA fighters in 2023, including by the area commander, as her father was forced to join the government armed forces”.
For the victim that was raped by both OLA fighters and an ENDF soldier, the formers’ justification for the violence committed was “because they knew she had been raped by an ENDF soldier”. She stated that the OLA affiliated perpetrators came to her home two months after she was raped by the ENDF soldier. The victim recalled “she never told anyone what happened. Yet she suspects that neighbours told the OLA fighters, having heard her screams. Two months later, her family witnessed OLA fighters abduct her from her home. She said her mother refused to let her go, and the fighters beat her mother as a result. She said six fighters raped her from midnight until dawn, then told her to go home in the morning.”
The victims suffered sexual violence, unwanted and underage pregnancies, physical injuries as well as physiological trauma leading to numerous health complications. Alongside the interview, the analysis also included the examination of the medical files of seven survivors and additional expert interviews. The medical reports have showed the physical health consequences endured by the survivors due to the sexual violence. Two victims, it is reported, are living with a fistula. An underaged victim who was 12 at the time of the violence said “she still feels immense pain…, cannot carry heavy things, and she cannot breathe some days.” Another victim who was pregnant during the interview said “she feared that she may have contracted a sexually transmitted infection”. Amnesty’s report concluded that some survivors have been dealing with sexual and reproductive health issues in connection to the violence for more than five years.
According to medical experts interviewed for the report, there are one stop centre in the Sayo and Anfilo Woredas of Kellem Wollega Zone that could provide care for survivors of gender based violence. Although they mentioned that the centres are under equipped due to lack of enough trained medical staff and equipment. The victims generally showed reluctance to get to the health centres after the violence for various reasons. Some declined access “fearing that the medical staff might inform the OLA fighters.” Others chose not to seek medical treatment fearing societal stigma. “They fear that if they are seen seeking sexual and reproductive health services, including post rape care, they will be stigmatized due to the perception that they received abortion care.” One victim further said she opted to get traditional medication.
In the case of some victims, the suffering transcends health issues they endured and it extended to their family members who were either killed or sustained physical and mental trauma. One child of a victim who was beaten by a rifle butt by OLA fighters sustained a serious physical injured and remains in critical condition after multiple surgeries. The OLA fighters also killed male family members of some of the women including the husband of the victim who was abducted together with her daughter. The husband was killed when he was resisting the abduction of his daughter.
The victims and their families also experienced forced displacement after the abuse as recorded by different humanitarian and human rights agencies. Victims expressed fear that “OLA fighters would return and rape them again or kill them, a frequent occurrence in the region that some survivors also endured.” They said they experienced further harassment and abuses while staying in their homes. It was stated that UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) documented civilian displacement in various parts of the region, the number reaching over one million in 2023. According to UNHCR, conflict is the top cause of the forced displacement. Moreover, after fleeing their hometowns, victims and their families were pushed into poverty due to loss of livelihood showing the multifaceted socioeconomic impact of sexual violence.
The Amnesty report underlined its findings about the sufferings of women and girls that are victims of sexual violence to “only be the tip of the iceberg” in the ongoing conflict in Oromia. Long communication blackouts and communication restrictions in the conflict affected areas, coupled with other motivation to underreport such violence likely concealed the scale of the problem. As such, it called for a further and independent investigation into conflicted related sexual violence in the region and beyond. It called upon the Ethiopian government and other humanitarian actors to urgently address both the health and socio-economic impact of such violence. This call came against the restriction place by authorities, the report noted, against international investigators, including the UN appointed International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) and journalists.
The report also noted that interviewed victims and experts alike expressed fear of reprisal from OLA fighters and government authorities, preventing survivors from accessing essential Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) and psychological services. The reported called on the Ethiopian government in particular to make immediate intervention against the intimidation and harassment experienced by healthcare providers and victims, to secure access to lifesaving medical access post violence.
As a woman, and as someone shaped by social, emotional, and deeply held moral and religious values, such a report is not just difficult to read, but it is devastating. These are not abstract accounts; they are lived realities that challenge our shared humanity. How long will we continue to see, hear, and yet act as if nothing is happening? Are these ten cases simply isolated reports, or do they reflect the lived experience of thousands of women across different regions of Ethiopia? In the face of such suffering, what meaning do “development,” “prosperity,” or “progress” hold for affected communities? From a medical perspective, the consequences extend far beyond the immediate violence. This is a profound crisis of sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, and mental wellbeing. Survivors face untreated trauma, obstetric complications such as fistula, unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and long term psychological distress. These are not just health issues; they are indicators of systemic failure and neglect.
This raises urgent questions of voice, responsibility, and accountability. Who is speaking for these women and who is truly listening? Should their stories remain confined to reports and publications, or should they compel action? Silence, whether from institutions, communities, or individuals, risks becoming complicity. At what point do we say “enough”? At what point do we collectively reject these acts as unacceptable and refuse to let them define us? Addressing this crisis requires more than documentation; it demands moral clarity, professional responsibility, and community courage. It is time to confront these violations openly, to stand with survivors, and to ensure that such acts are not normalized but recognized for what they are grave injustices that must be exposed, condemned, and stopped.
[1] Ethiopia: ‘No One Came To My Rescue’: Gang rape, sexual slavery, and mass displacement of women in Oromia, Ethiopia – Amnesty International
