Ethiopia: OLA Welcomes Us State Department Rights Report, Calls for Independent Investigation Into Alleged Atrocities

15 August 2025
Addis Standard (Addis Ababa)

Addis Abeba — The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) has welcomed the 2024 U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Ethiopia, calling for impartial, internationally-mandated investigations into all alleged atrocities and urging the U.S. to reconsider its support for the Ethiopian government.

In a statement released on 13 August 2025, the OLA said the report "once again corroborates the lived experiences of our people over the past seven years: systematic terror, state-orchestrated brutality, and entrenched impunity."

The OLA highlighted the report's documentation of a range of alleged violations, including extrajudicial executions of civilians, targeted killings of religious leaders and opposition figures, indiscriminate drone strikes on civilian infrastructure, systematic torture in detention, mass arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, suppression of press freedom, curtailment of fundamental freedoms, and the weaponization of humanitarian aid.

Addressing the report's limited references to the OLA, the group asserted that credible independent investigations -- including those by Reuters and The Washington Post -- have shown that many alleged crimes attributed to the OLA were instead carried out by government forces or state-sponsored imposters. The OLA reiterated its willingness to cooperate fully with independent investigations into all allegations.

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A Reuters investigation has found that a clandestine committee of senior officials in Ethiopia's largest and most populous region, Oromia, has ordered extra-judicial killings and illegal detentions as part of efforts to crush an ongoing insurgency.

The probe uncovered the operations of the Koree Nageenyaa -- or Security Committee in the Oromo language -- which began functioning in the months following Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's rise to power in 2018.

The investigation found that the massacre of the Karrayyuu Abba Gada was orchestrated by senior officials, who subsequently instructed the Oromia Communication Bureau to attribute the killings to the OLA.

A report by Washington post also showed a counterinsurgent group posing as the OLA, led by former prisoner Fekade Abdisa, described by some as a bandit chief and double agent, has been accused of killing Amhara civilians, including in the town of Agamsa, triggering deadly reprisal attacks against Oromo communities. Residents say bloodshed follows in his wake, with violence often blamed on the OLA.

In light of the report's findings, the OLA called on the United States to "withdraw all bilateral and multilateral support, including Bretton Woods financing, to the regime and engage in purposeful dialogue with the opposition, which is emerging as a credible and viable alternative capable of steering the country toward peace, democracy, and accountability."

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