The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) welcomes the publication of the 2024 U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Ethiopia. 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 report documents:
- Extrajudicial executions of civilians – numerous incidents in which Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) rounded up residents and summarily executed them without due process.
- Targeted killings-of religious leaders, opposition figures, and unarmed civilians.
- Indiscriminate drone strikes on civilian infrastructure -including attacks that killed school teachers and residents, destroyed essential facilities, and deliberately targeted non-combatants.
- Systematic torture in detention -encompassing beatings with cables, suffocation with pepper-filled bags, deprivation of food and water, and prolonged incommunicado detention.
- Mass arbitrary detention -thousands of civilians held without charge or trial, often in undisclosed locations.
- Enforced disappearances -activists, journalists, and community leaders abducted or forcibly disappeared, with their whereabouts concealed from their families.
- Suppression of press freedom and artistic expression – through harassment, imprisonment , and forced exile of journalists , artists, and human rights defenders critical of the regime.
- Curtailment of fundamental freedoms – including internet shutdowns, bans on peaceful assembly, and restrictions on independent reporting to obscure state atrocities.
- Weaponization of humanitarian aid – deliberate targeting of medical facilities, harassment and assault of healthcare workers, and denial of relief in conflict-affected areas, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Oromia and beyond.
Concerning the limited references in the report to the OLA, we note that:
(a) credible independent investigations – including those conducted by Reuters and The Washington Post- have demonstrated that many past alleged crimes attributed to the OLA were perpetrated either directly by the regime or by state-sponsored “OLA/Shane” counterfeits designed to discredit our movement,
(b) the OLA has consistently expressed -and reiterates here – its willingness to cooperate fully with impa1tial, internationally -mandated investigations into all allegations.
In light of these findings, the OLA calls upon 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.
OLF-OLA High Command
August 13, 2025
