Madingo Afework 40 in Macedonia

Little progress was made into ensuring justice for past and recent abuses, including investigations into the deadly October 2019 violence. The national human rights commission issued several critical statements  and visited detainees in the capital and in Oromia. Institutional reforms, notably around the security sector, and truth, reconciliation, and accountability—key commitments made earlier in the Abiy administration and all of which are key to dealing with heightened political and ethnic tensions—were limited.

Since January, government security forces, including Ethiopian National Defense and Oromia regional police forces, carried out abusive counterinsurgency operations in western and southern Oromia region. The fighting by all sides undermined the ability of humanitarian actors to operate in insecure areas.

Reports of extrajudicial killings, mass arrests and detentions, and violence against ethnic Oromo civilians, including medical professionals, accused of supporting or being sympathetic to the armed rebel group the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), were widespread.