Ethiopia: Twenty Karrayyu Gadaa Leaders, Community Elders Released After Three Weeks of Detention

Twenty Karrayyu Gadaa leaders and community elders, who had been detained and missing for 21 days, were released on Sunday, 26 January, 2025, and reunited with their families, according to family members who spoke to Addis Standard.

The Karrayyu Gadaa leaders and community elders were initially arrested in the Fentalle district, East Shewa Zone, after being summoned from their homes for a meeting on 06 January, 2025. Their whereabouts remained unknown until their release last Sunday.

A relative of one of the detained Karrayyu Gadaa leaders told Addis Standard that the detainees were held for 21 days at a military camp of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) near Awash Arba.

"They were kept at a compound with detention facilities inside the ENDF residential area in Awash Arba," the relative recounted. "We were told that no one had communicated with them during their detention or explained the reason for their arrest."

The relative added, "Now, there is no one left there [in detention]. All of them have been released and returned home." The relative further explained, "On Saturday night, around 4:00 PM local time, they were brought to Metahara town, and on Sunday, they returned to their homes."

Another family member who spoke to Addis Standard expressed immense relief over the release of the Karrayyu Gadaa leaders and community elders.

"We were deeply worried," the family member said. "But now, thanks be to Waaqa [God], they returned home safely. None of them suffered any harm or injury. I'm very happy about that."

However, the family member revealed that upon their return, the Fentale district administration summoned the elders for a meeting. During the meeting, they were reportedly instructed to carry out "previously assigned homework," allegedly linked to their refusal to integrate armed Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) members into the community--a situation that the family member believes was the reason for their detention.

Among the released Karrayyu Gadaa elders are Roba Jilo Jembo, Guro Roba Hanbu, and Haldango Fentale, as well as elders Abebe Abullo, Konjo Jilo Godeti, Umer Roba Ayana, Hawe Jilo, and Arole Bula, among others.

The Karrayyu Gadaa leadership has faced repeated violence in recent years. In December 2021, Addis Standard reported that14 prominent members of the Karrayyu Gadaa leadership were summarily executed during a prayer ceremony. The victims included the leader Abbaa Gadaa Kadir Hawas Boru.

The federal and Oromia regional governments initially blamed the killings on OLA, which denied involvement from the get go.

Later on, a report by the state's Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) revealed that the killings were carried out by members of government security forces and that there were "reasonable grounds" to believe that it constituted "extrajudicial killing."

Additional investigative report published Reuters revealed that the killings were carried out by a secretive government security operative called "Koree Nageenyaa," which is roughly translated to "Security Committee" with approval from higher level regional and federal government officials.

The violence against the Karrayyu Gadaa leaders did not end there. In March 2023, Addis Standard reported that Hawas Mato Borra, a senior member of the Karrayyu Michile Gadaa leaders who survived the 2021 massacre, was shot and killed by "armed groups from the Amhara region."

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