Counter-Article: Re-examining Amnesty International’s “No One Came to My Rescue” Report on Oromia
The March 2026 report by Amnesty International titled “No One Came to My Rescue: Gang Rape, Sexual Slavery, and Mass Displacement of Women in Oromia, Ethiopia” accuses fighters of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) of committing severe abuses, including rape and sexual slavery, against civilians in parts of western Oromia. The report focuses primarily on incidents in Sayo and Anfillo districts of the Kellem Wallaga zone between 2020 and 2024. (Amnesty International USA)
While the suffering of civilians must be acknowledged and investigated, the report’s narrow scope and framing risk obscuring the broader context of the conflict in Oromia. Evidence from United Nations bodies, human-rights organizations, and Oromo civil society indicates that state forces and allied militias have been responsible for a significantly larger share of documented abuses in the region. A balanced analysis requires examining these findings alongside Amnesty’s claims.
1. Limited Scope of the Amnesty Investigation
The Amnesty report is based on interviews with 10 survivors in two districts. Nine of the cases described sexual violence attributed to OLA fighters, while one involved both OLA and government soldiers. (Amnesty International USA)
Although such testimonies deserve serious attention, a sample of ten cases from a conflict affecting millions of civilians cannot support broad generalizations about the conduct of an entire armed movement across Oromia.
Moreover, Amnesty itself acknowledges that the conflict involves multiple armed actors, and that civilians have suffered abuses from different sides of the war. (Amnesty International)
2. UN Data Shows State Actors Responsible for the Majority of Violations
Evidence from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) presents a more complex picture. A UN report on human-rights violations in Ethiopia found:
594 incidents of violations affecting more than 8,200 victims in 2023.
State actors were responsible for about 70 percent of the documented violations.
Non-state actors—including the OLA—accounted for about 22 percent of incidents. (The Reporter Ethiopia)
These violations included killings, torture, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, and destruction of civilian property. The same report also documented indiscriminate drone strikes by government forces that killed hundreds of civilians. (The Reporter Ethiopia)
By focusing almost exclusively on the OLA, Amnesty’s report risks minimizing the scale of abuses committed by state forces.
3. Widespread Abuses by Government and Allied Forces
Reports from Oromo human-rights groups and civil-society organizations further highlight abuses attributed to Ethiopian state forces and regional authorities. Submissions to the United Nations Human Rights Council by the Oromia Support Group describe:
deliberate killings of civilians, including children,
destruction of homes and farms leading to large-scale displacement,
land confiscations and forced evictions connected to development projects. (Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo)
These allegations align with numerous reports from journalists and humanitarian agencies documenting mass displacement, civilian killings, and widespread insecurity in Oromia.
4. Civilians Caught Between Both Sides
Independent reporting indicates that civilians in Oromia are often trapped between government forces and insurgent fighters. Both sides have been accused of serious abuses during the conflict. (AP News)
Analysts and human-rights investigators emphasize that counter-insurgency campaigns by Ethiopian forces—including drone strikes, mass arrests, and extrajudicial killings—have become defining features of the conflict. (The Reporter Ethiopia)
This broader context is critical to understanding the humanitarian crisis in the region.
5. Political Context and the Roots of the Conflict
The OLA emerged from a split within the Oromo Liberation Front following disputes with the Ethiopian federal government. The group claims its struggle is directed against state repression and political marginalization of the Oromo people rather than against civilians. (AP News)
Regardless of the validity of that claim, the conflict’s roots lie in long-standing political grievances, contested state authority, and militarized counter-insurgency operations across Oromia.
6. The Need for Balanced Accountability
International law requires that all parties to an armed conflict—state forces, militias, and insurgent groups—be held accountable for abuses. Selective attention risks undermining credibility and obstructing justice for victims.
Human-rights organizations should therefore:
investigate abuses by all armed actors, including government forces,
expand research beyond small case samples,
ensure that reporting reflects the full scale of documented violations.
Only a comprehensive approach can help establish accountability and prevent further atrocities.
Conclusion
The Amnesty International report highlights grave allegations that must be investigated. However, focusing narrowly on the OLA risks obscuring the broader pattern of violence in Oromia.
Evidence from the United Nations and Oromo human-rights groups indicates that state forces and allied militias have been responsible for the majority of documented violations in the region. A credible human-rights assessment must therefore examine abuses by all actors, rather than singling out one side of a complex and devastating conflict.
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