Reports highlight mass expulsions, security blockades, and severe aid shortages targeting ethnic Amharas across multiple woredas in Oromia’s Wollega zones
By Staff Writer
(Nairobi, Kenya) — A severe humanitarian emergency, marked by targeted detentions, extrajudicial killings, widespread displacement, and acute food shortages affecting ethnic Amharas, is unfolding across multiple woredas in the Wollega zones of Oromia Region, local reports and community accounts indicate.
Authorities released 141 ethnic Amhara individuals—detained since 2021 in the Gutin and Village Four areas and transferred to Nekemte Prison—though their current location remains unknown. Meanwhile, in Dengoro town, local sources reported that assailants shot and killed six ethnic Amhara prisoners at night shortly after their release from the local jail.
Security pressures and economic motives have intensified displacement. In Gida Ayana and Kiramu woredas, forced mass expulsions have almost entirely displaced ethnic Amhara residents and left communities deserted. Local reports tie these expulsions to efforts aimed at repurposing fertile agricultural lands for commercial investment projects.
Displaced populations, including elderly residents, women, and children, have sought refuge in surrounding forests and arid areas under dire conditions. Red Cross workers in the Tulu Gana area registered over 100 displaced persons a week ago, yet local representatives report no material support or emergency assistance has arrived, prompting urgent appeals to the international community and media outlets for immediate intervention.
Strict military and security lockdowns compound the crisis. Security forces deployed additional federal police units and regional Geda Commando forces from Shewa and neighboring districts into the Gutin area and parts of Horo Guduru and East Wollega zones. Concurrently, authorities have completely closed all major exit routes, including transport corridors connecting the zones to Benishangul-Gumuz and Gojjam.
Road blockades have restricted movement and obscured the status of numerous displaced civilians, many of whom have endured severe hardship for approximately three months while looters targeted standing crops. Prolonged starvation and a lack of emergency food supplies have caused numerous fatalities, particularly among children and the elderly, among populations displaced since mid-August and sheltering in Tulu Gana and surrounding areas.
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