Urgent Appeal for Independent International Investigations into Mass Atrocities in Ethiopia

AAA-admin
7 hours ago
4 min read

PRESS RELEASE:

August 30, 2026 (Nehase 24, 2018 EC)

The Coalition of Amhara Associations in America (CAAA) urgently calls for independent, impartial, and internationally supported investigations into reports of mass killings, abductions, destruction of property, and other grave abuses targeting ethnic Amhara communities throughout Ethiopia.

In recent weeks, a coalition of actors aligned with the Abiy Ahmed-led Prosperity Party (PP) regime has carried out escalating and systematic attacks on ethnic Amhara communities residing in western Oromia. The attacks have been concentrated in Gida-Ayana, Kiremu, and surrounding districts of East Wollega and Horo-Guduru-Wollega Zones. Based on preliminary reports, the attacks have resulted in significant casualties (with some estimates indicating hundreds killed already) and have been indiscriminate in nature, targeting religious figures, women, children, seniors, and persons with disabilities on the basis of their Amhara identity. The attacks have also involved deliberate destruction of property including residential homes and sites of worship, with property loss estimates projected in the millions of ETB. In the aftermath of recent waves of violence, CAAA has reviewed footage and images which appear to show burned residential neighborhoods, bodies of slain family members, and torture of civilians. In addition, reporting from various Amharic-language digital media platforms has highlighted testimony of executions of civilians, abductions and disappearances, mutilation and public exposure of bodies, looting or destruction of livestock and food stores, and interference with communications and independent reporting.

The attacks have been perpetrated primarily by federal and regional state forces, including the Ethiopian National Defense Force and Oromia Region Forces (including Oromia Special Forces, Gada Commandos, and militias among other units), with involvement of factions of the Oromo Liberation Army and Qeerro (militant youth mobs). The attacks followed a series of public incitements of violence by state officials, military leaders, and other personalities on various channels, directing acts of violence against ethnic Amhara and other non-Oromo communities using epithets such as “Fano” and “Tsimdo.”

The CAAA expresses grave concern over the PP regime’s genocidal war on Amhara people across Ethiopia, which has been accompanied by daily atrocities including aerial bombardments on schools, health centers, and sites of worship, arbitrary detentions, and weaponized sexual violence. These patterns of genocidal violence have left thousands of schools destroyed, leaving millions of children out of school in the Amhara Region alone. The recent escalation of violence in Oromia follows recent warning statements from various international organizations, including the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, European Centre for Law and Justice, and countless others.

Urgent Recommendations to International Community:

[General] Issue an unequivocal public condemnation naming the PP regime at all levels (federal and regional) as responsible for systematic attacks on ethnic Amhara civilians throughout Ethiopia; demand unrestricted, unescorted access for international and independent journalists, including entry visas and regional travel permits issued without conditions; demand international NGOs be provided unimpeded access to deploy emergency food, clean water, and medical care to affected communities; Call on social media platforms to designate qualified officers to oversee stricter content moderation to police content which invokes hatred and/or incites violence against Amhara people.
[International Bodies] Place the killings on the formal agenda of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council, and call an emergency session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights; establish an independent fact-finding mechanism with secure access to affected communities, witnesses, burial sites, medical records, and digital evidence; ensure that no displaced civilian is returned to an area of origin under coercion or before conditions permit safe, voluntary, and dignified return.
[US State Department and Treasury] Designate responsible officials and military commanders under Executive Order 13818 (Global Magnitsky), blocking their US-based assets and barring them from the US financial system; impose Section 7031(c) visa restrictions on the named officials and their immediate family members, and make the designations public rather than confidential; direct US representatives at the World Bank and IMF to oppose lending to Ethiopia until citizens are protected and perpetrators are held accountable; push for the ongoing killing of Amhara civilians throughout Ethiopia to be raised at the UN Security Council.

Media Contact:

Public Relations Department

Coalition of Amhara Associations in America (CAAA)

Admin@amharacoalition.org

About the CAAA:

The Coalition of Amhara Associations in America (CAAA) is a coalition of over 32 grassroots organizations representing Ethiopian-Americans of Amhara heritage across the United States of America. The coalition seeks to bridge diverse communities through education, humanitarian relief, and informed policy. The coalition consists of the following organizations: