ONM-ABO, 25 June 2026
A coordinated campaign of economic plunder and arbitrary violence has devastated the rural community of Tummee Waayyuu kebele in Tolee district, South West Shewa. State paramilitaries raided the village, executing a prominent resident named Obbo Haata’uu Waacilaa at a specific locality known as Lidataa. Following the execution, the forces initiated a mass sweep of civilian property, violently extorting livestock and agricultural yields from agrarian households. The verified inventory of stolen assets includes: from Zaruu Abbabaa (one ox, two donkeys, and ten sheep); from Tamasguu Tsaggaayee (entire household furnishings, 4 quintals of teff, and 6 quintals of assorted grains); and from Mangistuu Dachaasaa (two oxen, one horse, tactical horse gear, and all domestic appliances). During the same operation, multiple youth were abducted and dragged to undisclosed military interrogation centers, including Garramaa Barjuu, Tonkoluu Obsee, Immaabeet Adaanaa, Milkaa Waacilaa, Abdii Abbabaa, Tarroo Uumamaa, and Gammachuu Dammasaa.
Simultaneously, in West Hararghe’s Odaa Bultuum district, government forces have resorted to the forced disappearance of commercial operators. In Baddeessa town, PP operatives pulled a well-known local merchant, Obbo Mahammad Qaadariyaa, from his cell at the local police station and transferred him to a secret execution site. Despite continuous appeals from his frantic family, police administrators have refused to disclose his whereabouts, using the standard fabrication that the merchant was an OLA intelligence asset to justify his disappearance. The local police station in Biilaa town, Boojjii Birmajii district, West Wollega, has similarly been converted into a severe torture hub targeting innocent Oromo civilians. This week, state agents arrested seven prominent town residents, identifying them as Qannoo Girmaa, Girmaa Mangashaa, Atsadee Abdiisaa, Eebbisaa Kabbadee, Shaafee, and two individuals named Isiraa’el. The detainees are subjected to daily floggings under the accusation of managing logistical supply routes for the liberation army. Field reports indicate that these same youth had previously spent two years in a high-security zonal prison without any formal trial before being re-registered on these identical fabricated charges.
In East Shewa’s Fantaallee district, the regime has intensified its lucrative hostage-taking economy. Security forces in Godoo Faafaatee kebele abducted a low-income farmer and father of many children, Obbo Sayidoo Dhaddachoo. The district administration has placed an unofficial ransom demand of 200,000 Birr on his life, threatening his family with his immediate execution unless the funds are delivered. The justification used by the cadres for his arrest was an administrative order demanding that Obbo Sayidoo forcefully surrender his son to the national army’s forced conscription drafts. A revered elder named Girmaa Baqqalaa Eda’ee was also assassinated by a detachment of PP soldiers in Gooroo village, located within the Warqee Waleensuu kebele of Meettaa Roobii district. Soldiers broke into his residence during the night, dragged him into the streets, and executed him at approximately 7:00 PM. Local residents report that the targeted elimination of traditional elders has become a deliberate state strategy in West Shewa to break the social cohesion of communities that resist political realignment.
A massive corruption scandal involving the wholesale theft of agrarian livelihoods has been exposed in Burqaa Jaalalaa kebele, Dhidheessaa district, Buunnoo Beddellee Zone. Following the recent state-enforced mass eviction of Oromo farmers from their ancestral lands, who were forcefully relocated to precarious camps in Makkoo and Daaboo districts, local PP cadres and militias have formed a criminal syndicate to liquidate the abandoned properties. The officials are selling off valuable cash-crop plantations, including established khat and coffee fields, to outside investors for personal profit. Field investigations reveal that the cadres are selling large family plots for nominal sums ranging from 50,000 to 80,000 Birr per farm. The rightful owners, left entirely landless and destitute in resettlement camps, are now forced to work as sharecroppers on fields they legally own, exposing their children to acute malnutrition. When displaced families attempt to protest this illegal auction of their heritage, local militia chiefs immediately threaten to brand them as active OLA insurgents, a label that carries the immediate penalty of extrajudicial execution.
An atrocious cross-border war crime has been executed against Oromo civilians in the Jaarroo sector of Harxummaa Fursee district, Wallo Zone. Extremist Amhara chauvinist militias, operating under the Fano banner with the direct logistical backing of federal forces, launched a heavy weapons assault against Oromo villages. The attackers unleashed an indiscriminate barrage of gunfire, resulting in the immediate deaths of Ahimed Usiyyoo, Hasan Huseen Umaree, Ibiraahim, and Aliyyii Hasan. Dozens of Oromo mothers were critically wounded during the onslaught, including Ms Kadijjaa, who sustained severe shrapnel injuries. Simultaneously, a devastating scorched-earth campaign was unleashed against residential areas in Dubbannaa Hagaloo kebele, Kuyyuu district, North Shewa. Federal forces, humiliated by consecutive battlefield losses against the OLA, targeted the families of prominent Oromo nationalists. Soldiers systematically set fire to the homes and grain stores of Obbo Ijaaraa Addunyaa, Obbo Girmaa Leenjisoo, Obbo Tolasaa Dabalee, Ms Abarruu Gammachuu, Obbo Dabalaee Damisee, Obbo Yaazoo Tafarii, Obbo Badhaasaa Nuuree, and Obbo Dhugaasaa Waaqtolaa. Following the total destruction of their properties, security forces abducted Obbo Taaddasaa Barii and his wife Ms Tolashii Taaddasaa, locking them in the district cells under the accusation that their children are freedom fighters.
The campaign of state-sponsored kidnappings has intensified significantly in Waabeekoo kebele, Daarimuu district, Iluu Abbaa Boorae Zone. A hardworking civilian named Duushaa Abraahim, who has no involvement in any political organisation, was violently abducted from his home by federal soldiers. Duushaa was subjected to a severe public beating before being thrown into an unmarked military transport vehicle. He has since vanished completely into the regime’s labyrinth of secret military gulags, with local police denying any knowledge of his arrest. A identical totalitarian sweep has targeted Oromo youth in the Metekel Zone. Security forces in Giiphoo kebele (Dibaax district) and Goongoo kebele (Bulaan district) arbitrarily arrested two young men, Jireenyaa Balaayi and Abiraaham. The youth were targeted solely due to their Oromo identity and thrown into the central prison in Gaalessaa town without charges. Local human rights defenders report that the number of Oromo civilians currently held without trial within Gaalessaa town alone has exceeded 16 individuals, all of whom face continuous physical abuse.
