ONM-ABO, 23 June 2026
In a coordinated effort to extract financial resources from vulnerable communities, Prosperity Party (PP) agents in Kebele 01 of Gumbii Bordoddee district, West Hararghe, have initiated an aggressive extortion campaign under the guise of land survey and registration fees. Operating under the administrative slogan of “producing land cartography plans,” regime functionaries are demanding compulsory payments ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 Birr from local residents who own larger plots of land. For those unable to afford these exorbitant demands, regime operatives have resorted to explicit threats, warning residents that they must forfeit half of their private land to the state or face immediate administrative reprisals. The campaign has left the local population in a state of deep anxiety. Meanwhile, as the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) continues its successful defensive campaigns across Oromia, a profound sense of insecurity has gripped the occupational forces stationed within Gumbii Bordoddee town. In response, local security units have imposed a strict night-time curfew, warning transport operators and drivers that all civilian movement past 6:00 PM is strictly prohibited due to worsening security conditions.
A parallel campaign of violent extortion and arbitrary asset stripping has targeted rural farmers in Kooluu Galaan kebele, within the neighboring Jalduu district of West Shewa. Regime soldiers launched a vicious assault against a local farmer, Araarsaa Dabbaal, who has no affiliation with any political organisation. After severely beating him and leaving him with debilitating physical trauma, the soldiers looted his livelihood by forcefully seizing two of his oxen. Local observers state that such acts of state-sponsored banditry have become routine across West Shewa as occupational forces seek to sustain themselves through direct plunder.
The economic warfare has also reached the urban centers of Shagger City. The dictatorial regime’s security apparatus has drastically intensified its campaign of arbitrary arrests, physical beatings, and structural extortion targeting Oromo youth in the Dirree Cirrachaa sector, popularly known as Ashawa Meedaa, within the Buraayyuu sub-city. State militias have been executing sweeping operations on public roads, forcefully confiscating smartphones from young passers-by. Under the fabricated pretext of finding images related to the OLA on their personal devices, the forces have engaged in mass round-ups. Local sources report that detained youth are systematically forced to pay ransom fees between 20,000 and 30,000 Birr to secure their release. Those coming from economically marginalized families who cannot afford the bribes are left languishing in notoriously brutal detention centers without formal charges. The situation is further aggravated by severe public floggings administered on the streets. Dozens of Oromo youth have now been held for over eight to nine months without any judicial oversight in facilities such as the 3rd District Detention Center, Aannee Diimaa, and Dirree Sololiyaa, where they remain subject to continuous psychological and physical abuse.
