Addis Ababa: Wanted by the Ethiopian government, rebel military leader Jaal Marroo moves constantly to stay ahead of drones hunting him from the skies.
The rebel commander leads the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) from a series of remote forest outposts in Oromia, the country’s biggest region with a population of roughly 40 million people.
The government has designated the former student as a terrorist, accusing the OLA of massacring civilians in ethnically motivated attacks. But in a rare interview from one of his hideouts, Marroo rejected accusations that his fighters target civilians.
Our war is not against the people, he told The Associated Press. It is against the brutal regime that has occupied and oppressed the nation for generations.
He added, We are fighting to correct a system that treats the Oromo as subjects, rather than citizens. Our goal is to establish a democratic, inclusive political order based on the will of the people.
Almost impossible to travel’
The OLA has been battling Ethiopia’s government since 2018, even if at times the rebellion was overshadowed by the country’s other conflicts, such as the 2020-2022 war in the northern Tigray region. United Nations investigators have accused the OLA of serious abuses, including killings, rapes and kidnappings.
But human rights monitors, who have also documented violations by government forces, say indiscriminate drone strikes, extrajudicial killings and disappearances have become a hallmark of their counterinsurgency campaign.
The research that we conducted puts both the OLA and the government forces in the middle of the conflict in terms of summary executions, in terms of torture, in terms of abductions, in terms of rape of women, said Sarah Kimani, a regional spokesperson for Amnesty International, which will publish a report in March into human rights abuses in the region.
Our report is able to point to both groups having been responsible for the atrocities that are being carried out in the Oromia region and that continue to be carried out against civilians in the region, she told the AP.
Ayantu Bulcha was at home in the capital, Addis Ababa, when she heard that soldiers had come to her family’s house in Oromia in early December. Her cousin was shot outside the property, she said. Then the soldiers took her father and her uncle to a nearby field, where they were also killed, she said. They had been accused of fighting alongside the OLA.
There have been threats against my family since the killing, and even before that, said Bulcha, who is a member of an Ethiopian opposition party. She denies allegations that her relatives belonged to the rebels.
Lensa Hordofa, a civil servant from Oromia’s Shewa region, said her family faces constant harassment and extortion from armed men. This includes demands for food and other supplies. Her uncle was recently detained and only released after paying a ransom of 100,000 Ethiopian birr (USD 650).
Movement from place to place has become increasingly restricted, she said. It’s almost impossible to travel.
Bulcha said she was too scared to return home, fearing retaliation by government forces.
My frail mother is left alone in an empty house, grieving. I can’t even go there to grieve with her, she said. I am afraid for my own safety.
Attacks on hospitals and clinics
Ethiopia restricts access to Oromia for journalists and rights groups, meaning the conflict is largely hidden.
Unfortunately, the human rights situation – as well as the overall humanitarian crisis in Oromia – is underreported, said Getu Saketa Roro, co-founder of Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa.
Regional and federal government representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
In January 2025, the UN reported that 3.2 million children were not in school because of the fighting. In the Wollega district, where Bulcha’s family lives, aid groups struggle to distribute supplies, contributing to high malnutrition.
Hospitals and clinics have also come under attack. In 2023, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that nearly all the 42 health posts in Oromia’s Begi district had been looted or damaged.
Tulu Getachew, a coffee farmer from Wollega, has been unable to return home for three years due to the security situation. He hired workers to collect his beans, but the harvest was stolen by armed men.
One party hurts you because they say you belong to the other, he said. You suffer because they say your family member is affiliated with the government or OLA.
Although Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is from Oromia – and the Oromo make up roughly 35 per cent of Ethiopia’s population – many Oromo say that they are still marginalised in Ethiopia’s federal system, which grants resources and self-governance rights based on ethnicity.
Oromia is very insecure’
Recent government offensives have eroded the OLA’s military capabilities, analysts say. At the end of 2024, the authorities convinced one of the group’s main commanders to defect, further degrading its capabilities.
The government claims hundreds of thousands of displaced people have been able to return home. But the conflict continues to destabilise the region, with civilians caught in the middle of the violence.
Members of the Amhara ethnicity, Ethiopia’s second-biggest group, have been targeted for attacks, according to rights monitors. Meanwhile, insurgents from the region of Amhara have also carried out attacks in Oromia.
Armed banditry is also prevalent, and kidnapping has become a particular issue. It is not always clear who is responsible for the abductions.
Oromia is very insecure, not simply because of the OLA but because of other groups operating as criminal enterprises, engaging in extortion, kidnapping and robberies, said Magnus Taylor, Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group.
