ONM-ABO, October 1, 2025. Ethiopian federal forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed have intensified their brutal campaign against Oromo communities in the Harxuma Furse district of Walloo, with fresh reports of arbitrary arrests, beatings and extrajudicial killings.
On May 31, regime militiamen reportedly arrested and executed a 75-year-old man, Abdu Adamu, in the village of Ontu Burqa, without any provocation. According to eyewitnesses who spoke to Oromia National Media (ONM), Adamu, a father of nine, was dragged from his home, his hands tied behind his back, and subjected to a violent assault before being killed.
“He was asked to hand over a gun he did not possess,” one local resident told ONM. “When he said he didn’t have any weapons, they beat him mercilessly and declared: ‘Kill all family members of freedom fighters.’ Then they killed him in cold blood.”
The incident is the latest in a string of attacks targeting relatives of members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which has been engaged in armed resistance against the central government in Oromia and neighbouring regions.
Two days earlier, on May 29, security forces raided Golbo Arba, another village in the same district, arresting and beating several relatives of known Oromo fighters. Among those detained was Maremma, the wife of Aliyi Sultan Ibrahim and mother of seven children. Witnesses say she was assaulted along with her newborn baby before being taken to Mudha Hiddii detention centre.
Also detained were Ahmed Sultan Ibrahim, Ibrahim Sultan Ibrahim, and 13-year-old Khalid Jawar, the only remaining kin of freedom fighters in the area. ONM has verified that the operation left at least 20 heads of households forcibly evicted from their homes in Golbo Arba and neighbouring villages, pushing them into internal displacement and further hardship.
These coordinated attacks appear to be part of a broader policy of collective punishment against Oromo civilians suspected of sympathising with the OLA. Rights groups have repeatedly accused Abiy Ahmed’s government of using counterinsurgency operations as a cover for widespread human rights abuses in Oromia.
Despite growing international concern, the regime continues to operate with impunity, silencing dissent and targeting vulnerable families. Local communities in Walloo are now calling for urgent international intervention to halt what they describe as systematic persecution of Oromo people under the guise of national security.
