Shattered Peace, Silenced Justice: Absence of accountability fuels Ethiopia’s cycle of violence
https://addisstandard.com/shattered-pea ... nce/?amp=1
May 24, 2025
(Photo: Minasse Wondimu Hailu)
Addis Abeba – Ethiopia has remained a locus of protracted violence, state repression, insurgent conflict, and rampant abductions ever since it was engulfed in turmoil, especially after 2018. A striking feature of the ongoing crisis in the country is the systemic lack of accountability for atrocities committed by both state and non-state actors.
The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)—a rebel group based in Eritrea that fought against the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)—was invited to return from exile after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in April 2018. In September 2018, OLF leaders arrived in Addis Abeba https://www.opride.com/2018/09/16/oromo ... dis-ababa/ as part of their return from exile.
However, the amnesty deal negotiated in Asmara was vague and done in haste. https://addisstandard.com/in-depth-[deleted] ... ate/?amp=1
Important issues were also either overlooked or not properly addressed. As a result, trust broke down quickly. TV broadcasts
have also shown what was labeled the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA)—the armed wing of the OLF—returning from Eritrea and even joining government camps. However, shortly afterward, government forces and the OLA began fighting in Western Oromia, https://addisstandard.com/special-editi ... mia/?amp=1 particularly in Wollega zones.
The Tigray region also descended into the brutal armed conflict where the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the federal forces (and allied paramilitary forces from different regions) fought between November 2020 and November 2022. This atrocious war was exacerbated with the involvement of Eritrean troops https://addisstandard.com/newsalert-us- ... Ethiopia's following the invitation by the federal government. (Rockets were fired at us, actually)
Moreover, the federal government began to engage in conflict in the Amhara region in a bid to dismantle and disarm the regional paramilitary force. This has escalated to militarized conflict https://addisstandard.com/war-torn-amha ... e_vignette between the federal government and forces in the region organized under the umbrella, Fano.
The emergence of organized insurgencies, https://epo.acleddata.com/western-oromia-conflict/ the federal government’s provocation, and the state’s militarized response https://www.awashpost.com/the-hidden-re ... in-oromia/ have exacerbated tensions, leading to extrajudicial killings, https://addisstandard.com/ehrc-reports- ... mia/?amp=1 mass displacement, https://addisstandard.com/analysis-mass ... one/?amp=1 abductions for ransom, https://addisstandard.com/analysis-risi ... 1aVA&=1 and widespread human rights violations https://addisstandard.com/ehrc-urges-en ... ons/?amp=1 across the country. Reports from local and international human rights organizations detail a continuum of atrocities, including enforced disappearances, indiscriminate killings, and arbitrary detentions perpetrated by both state security forces and insurgent groups. The violence disproportionately impacted innocent civilians, particularly the elderly, women, and children, largely in three regional states https://kcsgroup.com/ethiopias-fracture ... rd/—Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray regions. The conflict has gradually evolved into an entrenched state of impunity, wherein both government forces and the rebel groups of OLA and Fano (now divided into different factions) operate beyond the reach of domestic or international legal mechanisms.
State as perpetrator, enabler of violence
Since the onset of the conflict, the government has been widely implicated in the bloodshed in https://www.reuters.com/investigates/sp ... committee/ the Oromia, Amhara, and Tigray regions, deploying disproportionate force against civilian populations under the pretext of law enforcement operations. Evidence from the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, https://ehrc.org/%e1%8a%a0%e1%88%9b%e1% ... %e1%8a%94/ Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/20/hrw ... -and-india and Amnesty International https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/af ... 8/2020/en/ shows that state security apparatuses have engaged in systematic human rights abuses, including summary executions and the targeting of individuals suspected of affiliating with insurgent forces.
The Amhara and Oromia regional governments are key actors involved in the armed conflict alongside the federal forces. In Oromia, there is a parallel and informal structure that plays a particularly important role, namely the Koree Nageenyaa (the Security Committee). The Koree Nageenyaa became known through a Reuters report in February 2024, which documented the existence of a secret committee at the regional level responsible for the numerous extrajudicial killings taking place in Oromia. Said to have been established in 2019, Reuters reported https://www.reuters.com/investigates/sp ... committee/ that the committee was led by Shimeles Abdisa, the president of Oromia, and that it included the head of the Prosperity Party (PP) in Oromia and the head of security for Oromia. The regional and federal governments not only repeatedly deny the existence of this committee but also obstruct investigations by independent groups. These repeated denials and obstruction of independent investigations https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/ ... vic-space/ highlight a deliberate strategy to evade accountability.
The retaliatory violence between the government and insurgent groups has entrenched the country in an intractable conflict, with innocent civilians disproportionately bearing the consequences.
The shrinking press freedom https://addisstandard.com/eu-14-diploma ... lly/?amp=1 in Ethiopia has also worsened the situation by blocking journalists https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/ ... emergency/ from accessing conflict hotspots. Journalists and civil society organizations are systematically suppressed, exacerbating the information blackout in the conflict hotspot areas. Media censorship as well as the persecution of dissenting voices and investigative journalists https://addisstandard.com/news-govt-say ... ion/?amp=1 reporting have created an informational vacuum that hinders both domestic and international scrutiny of state actions. By monopolizing the narrative surrounding the crisis, the government effectively impedes efforts to hold perpetrators accountable and perpetuates a culture of impunity.
Insurgent violence, reciprocal nature of conflict
State actors bear significant responsibility for the crisis, https://ehrc.org/download/annual-ethiop ... june-2024/ engaging in extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and abductions. The rebel groups in Amhara https://addisstandard.com/13-teachers-h ... ive/?amp=1 and Oromia https://addisstandard.com/series-of-ret ... ces/?amp=1 regions have also been implicated in targeted killings, attacks on civilians, and abductions. Reports indicate that they have executed individuals affiliated with officials and perceived collaborators of the government, further exacerbating the crisis and expanding the conflict zones.
The armed conflict in Amhara and Oromia follows a cyclical pattern. The retaliatory violence between the government and insurgent groups has entrenched the country in an intractable conflict, with innocent civilians disproportionately bearing the consequences. No mechanisms exist to hold non-state actors accountable for their role in the crisis, which has emboldened continued aggression and made prospects for peace increasingly elusive.
Inaction by international community
The crisis and bloodshed in the country have been largely ignored by the international community. Since the onset of violence in 2018, international actors have remained passive, offering only occasional and weak condemnations. While human rights organizations, foreign governments, and multilateral bodies such as the African Union have issued statements, substantive action has been conspicuously absent.
Despite advocacy efforts calling for targeted sanctions and diplomatic interventions, geopolitical considerations—particularly Ethiopia’s strategic position in the Horn of Africa—have impeded meaningful international engagement. The failure to pressure both the government and rebel groups to negotiate and impose tangible consequences on perpetrators underscores the broader inadequacy of the international legal and diplomatic framework in addressing human rights crises in fragile states. Sustained internal and external pressure is essential to compel all actors involved in the conflict to come to the negotiating table and seek compromise. Without such measures, impunity will persist, perpetuating further violence and exacerbating the crisis.
Towards framework for accountability, justice
A sustainable resolution to the conflict necessitates a rigorous framework for accountability. Independent and impartial investigations into human rights violations must be prioritized, ensuring the prosecution of perpetrators regardless of their affiliations. National reconciliation must include all stakeholders, and transitional justice mechanisms—such as truth commissions, reparative justice, and institutional reforms—should be embedded within the broader strategy for peacebuilding.
The Ethiopian government must also allow international human rights monitors unfettered access to affected areas and ensure protections for independent investigative journalism. Insurgent factions must also be subjected to equivalent scrutiny, with international legal frameworks holding non-state actors accountable for crimes against civilians.
The ongoing crisis in Ethiopia epitomizes a systemic failure of accountability at both domestic and international levels. The Ethiopian government, insurgent factions, and global institutions must recognize their roles in enabling and perpetuating violence through their silence and neglect. Without tangible measures to address past and ongoing atrocities, innocent civilians will remain trapped in a cycle of repression and conflict, and Ethiopia’s long-term stability will remain precarious. The pursuit of justice is not merely a moral imperative but a foundational requirement for sustainable peace in the country.
Editor’s Note: Siyum Adugna Mamo is a PhD fellow at Gent University in Belgium and an academic staff member at Jimma University in Ethiopia. He can be contacted at [email protected]
