Borkena
Toronto – A BBC investigative report reportedly conducted for well over a year claims that over 2000 woman have been raped in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
In a story entitled ‘It would have been better if they’d killed me’: A forgotten war destroying women’s lives” which was published on Tuesday, the BBC indicated that data was collected between July 2023 and May 2025.
Victims of rape range between eight years and 65 years of age.
The number is presumed to be much higher as the number of those who did not report or visit a health center is believed to be much higher. It means that they did not get the medical support they needed.
Information was gathered from 43 health centers and other health institutions from across the region.
45 percent of the victims are said to be under 18 years of age. And over 50 percent of the victims have contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STDs), BBC reported.
However, many of the victims have not reported STDs or pregnancy cases due to presumed stigma.
The report also added that the sexual assaults were perpetrated by the warring parties. However, the investigative report has confirmed that the majority of the cases were perpetrated by government forces.
BBC spoke to some of the victims who spoke on condition of anonymity. A victim who was named Enat told the BBC ‘It would have been better if they’d killed me.’
At 21, she was raped violently in front of her niece. “I begged them not to hurt me. I called on the saints and begged them. But their hearts didn’t pity me. They violated me,” BBC quoted her as saying.
Notably, Well before the BBC investigative report human rights organizations, including the UN Human rights body, reported rights abuse including extrajudicial killings and rape in the Amhara region of Ethiopia in connection with the conflict.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed in the region including in a drone strike which targeted health centers and schools in many areas of the region since the war started.
The government launched a full scale military operation in August 2023 with the pretext of disarming fano forces and it was stated to end in a few weeks.
The war is still underway in almost all parts of the region and there appears to be no end in sight as the government fails to resort to negotiation with a readiness to address the political demands. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been heard on many occasions calling the rebel groups to simply lay down arms and surrender which is his version of “reediness for negotiation.”
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This is heart wrenching painful news for me and my family. For those of you who seem to care less about this, think as if it has happened to your daughters, sisters, nieces and wives. Woe my people! Woe my beloved people!!!
According to the Pretoria Agreement which saved the regime of Abiy Ahmed, the perperators of rape in Tigray should be facing justice. But Abiy Ahmed has been refusing to implement the agreement and his forces are being accused of committing more rapes and other human rights violations in Amhara and Oromia. The war in Tigray and other regions of Ethiopia has demonstrated that the army of Abiy Ahmed is not a defense force but a raping and looting force. It can not fight but rapes.