‘Executions, torture, abductions, rape: Ethiopia’s hidden conflict

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.”

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.