The Ethiopian Human Rights Council calls on federal and regional authorities to safeguard civilians trapped in intensifying armed hostilities across Amhara, Gambella, Oromia, and Benishangul-Gumuz
By Staff Writer
(Nairobi, Kenya) — The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) has issued an urgent call demanding federal and regional authorities take immediate corrective measures to safeguard civilians whose rights to life, physical safety, and freedom of movement are being severely violated across the Amhara, Gambella, Oromia, and Benishangul-Gumuz regions.
In an official statement released on October 23, 2026, the rights advocacy group expressed deep concern over ongoing armed hostilities, highlighting that non-combatants regularly fall victim to killings, physical injuries, abductions, forced displacement, and extensive property destruction. EHRCO emphasized that beyond targeted assaults by non-state armed groups, civilian lives are increasingly cut short by heavy artillery and indiscriminate shelling hitting residential areas. The Council warned that federal and regional governments are failing to fulfill constitutional obligations and international legal duties to protect the fundamental right to life.
Documenting specific casualties across multiple regions, EHRCO reported that heavy artillery shelling during clashes in Sekota town, Wag Hemra Zone, killed one civilian and injured two others on September 25, 2026. In Dabat Woreda, North Gondar Zone, September 26 armed confrontations between security forces and local armed groups resulted in three civilian fatalities from heavy weaponry and stray bullets. Heavy weapons fired near the Dabat Eritrean refugee camp wounded three refugees—who are currently receiving medical care at Dabat Gondar Hospital—while severely restricting local civilian movement.
The rights group detailed further security breakdowns in other regional states. In the Gambella Region, gunfire directed at public transport in Abol Woreda and subsequent attacks in Gambella city’s Kebele 04 and the Addis Sefer area caused multiple civilian deaths and injuries. During a subsequent protest, a confrontation involving security forces and armed groups left one person injured and property destroyed as victims’ families attempted to submit grievances to the regional chief administrator.
In the Oromia Region, heightened conflict across the Wollega and East Arsi zones has caused widespread human rights abuses and severe public distress, leaving displaced populations in Gida Ayana Woreda in critical need of humanitarian relief and shelter. Meanwhile, in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region’s Metekel Zone, an Ethiopian Red Cross Society ambulance driver was killed in Dangur Woreda while performing regular duties, and armed groups in Manbuk Woreda abducted local drivers and workers, demanding ransom payments from their families.
Reiterating that the FDRE Constitution and international human rights frameworks mandate state protection of civilian lives, EHRCO urged authorities to halt attacks, bring perpetrators to justice through independent investigations, and urgently facilitate emergency relief to displaced populations.
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