Borkena
Toronto – Last Sunday, EBS television aired an interview with Bertukan Mengesha, a university student who shared a horrifying story of kidnapping, rape, and unimaginable brutality at the hands of gunmen in Ethiopia’s Oromia region.
The region is known for ransom kidnappings and brutal killings of innocent civilians – mostly ethnic Amharas. The regional government links these incidents to a radical ethnic Oromo nationalist group called the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). On the other hand, the militant group denies involvement and instead accuses the government. What is clear is that mass kidnappings and horrific civilian massacres—including members of the monastic community at Mount Zequala, located less than 50 kilometers from the capital, Addis Ababa—have been documented over the past six years. These atrocities are not confined to the past.
In the last two weeks alone, two passenger buses were hijacked in the region, and more than 90 civilians are reportedly being held captive, with their abductors demanding over 1 million birr per person. It is not uncommon for kidnapped women to be sexually abused and gang-raped by their captors. So far, no known cases of accountability for such crimes have been reported.
When Bertukan Temesgen appeared on EBS television last Sunday, revealing the atrocities committed against her, her story quickly became a trending topic among Ethiopians on social media, sparking widespread anger and grief.
The next day, Bertukan, the victim, disappeared. She was reportedly detained by the Ethiopian Federal Police, and the broadcaster was forced to remove the video. The government issued no official statement on the matter. However, pro-government bloggers and “media army” figures have dismissed Bertukan’s account as staged, claiming it was intended to incite violence. Some even alleged that the rape and brutality story was the work of the “Eritrean government.”
On Wednesday, social media reports emerged that the owners of EBS TV had been detained and the station sealed off. Government critics view these actions as part of a broader effort to suppress dissent and erase cultural identity, framing it as a move to “Oromize” the country. The TV station had gained significant relevance among a large segment of Ethiopians.
The owners, whose identities had never previously been questioned, were suddenly labeled as Eritreans. The rape story was dismissed as a “conspiracy” to destabilize the government. A day or so before the arrests, pro-government bloggers circulated government issued ID and documents allegedly from Hawassa University to prove that she was not one of the missing students from Dembi Dollo University. Critics see this as an extreme effort by the government to downplay the suffering and massacres of ethnic Amharas.
Meanwhile, Dembi Dollo University issued a strongly worded statement denying that Bertukan was not a pharmacy student during the 2013 academic year and accusing the TV station of defamation. This came despite Bertukan never implicating Dembi Dollo University in the incident or mentioning that she was a student there. Notably, 17 students from the same university have been missing for over six years.
Today, the Ethiopian government aired a documentary on state-owned media in which Bertukan—according to critics and observers closely following the case—was made to retract her earlier statements, claiming that her testimony during the live show was staged and that she had not endured the brutality she described. This has raised serious questions, with many Ethiopian activists and media figures believing she was coerced into recanting under duress, possibly after enduring immense suffering. Not only Bertukan but also her family members, including her siblings, were featured in the government-produced documentary (video below).
Reports of rape and murder targeting ethnic Amharas have intensified in the Oromia region since Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018. Human rights organizations have repeatedly documented politically motivated massacres of ethnic Amharas in the region. The Fano forces, currently active in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, cite “reversing the existential threat against Amharas” as the raison d’etre for the movement.
At this point, the government has declared that Bertukan was not raped—without any independent investigation or involvement from human rights organizations.
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