Amnesty International on Thursday called on Ethiopian authorities to investigate allegations of sexual violence and torture committed by fighters of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) in the country’s Oromia region.

According to Amnesty International, women and girls in the region have reportedly been subjected to serious abuses such as rape and other forms of sexual violence by OLA members. Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa Tigere Chagutah urged the government of Ethiopia to take action to end the cycle of abuse against women and girls. Amnesty International also called on all parties involved in the ongoing conflict in Oromia to respect international humanitarian and human rights law and protect civilians from further harm. 

The OLA is an armed rebel group that emerged from a split with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)—an Oromo nationalist political movement that previously fought the Ethiopian government before entering the political process in 2018 and becoming a recognized politically party in 2019. The OLA has been fighting the Ethiopian government since 2018. 

The insurgency has intensified instability in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest regional state, where tensions over political autonomy, ethnic violence and governance have fueled recurring conflict. Reports indicate that fighting between government forces and OLA fighters has caused significant civilian harm, including killings, displacement and destruction of property in several areas of the region.

Human rights concerns have also been raised regarding the conduct of Ethiopian authorities in counterinsurgency operations. A previously reported investigation revealed the existence of a secret committee tasked with suppressing the Oromo insurgency, which allegedly coordinated detention campaigns and actions that rights groups say may violate international human rights standards. 

The conflict in Oromia forms part of a broader landscape of instability in Ethiopia, where multiple armed conflicts have strained and created humanitarian crises in recent years. Ethiopia in the past has been known to shut down human rights groups advocating against oppressive regimes.