In the dense forests and rugged hills of Ethiopia’s Oromia region, a grinding insurgency pits federal forces against the Oromo Liberation Army, or OLA, in a war largely hidden from outside view. Both sides insist they are protecting civilians. Both stand accused of killing them.

The Ethiopian government designates the OLA a terrorist organization and blames it for ethnically targeted massacres, village raids, and kidnappings. Officials in Addis Ababa portray the group as a fragmented militia exploiting local grievances to extort communities and destabilize the state.

OLA commander Jaal Marroo rejects that narrative. In rare interviews granted to international media, he insists his fighters operate under strict military discipline and do not deliberately attack civilians. He frames the insurgency as a struggle for Oromo self-determination and justice after decades of political exclusion and abusive security crackdowns.

Independent investigators paint a far darker and more complex picture. United Nations experts and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have documented what they describe as a pattern of abuses by both the OLA and government forces. Their reports cite allegations against OLA units of summary killings, abductions, and forced recruitment, alongside accusations that federal troops and allied regional militias have carried out extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions, and indiscriminate drone and artillery strikes.

Our report points to both groups, says Amnesty researcher Sarah Kimani in one such assessment, noting that civilians are routinely trapped between front lines, suspected by each side of supporting the other.

The humanitarian fallout is severe and poorly recorded, as authorities restrict access for journalists and aid agencies. UN agencies and relief groups report mass displacement across Oromia, with entire communities fleeing repeated clashes and reprisals. Millions are believed to need assistance, and several million children are estimated to be out of school as classrooms are destroyed, occupied by fighters, or simply abandoned.

Health facilities have been looted or rendered inoperable, while aid convoys face checkpoints, insecurity, and bureaucratic hurdles. Local officials and community leaders describe rising malnutrition, untreated disease, and a pervasive sense of fear.

At the heart of the conflict lie long-standing Oromo grievances over land, political representation, and economic marginalization within Ethiopia’s contested federal system. Even the rise of an Oromo prime minister has not resolved those tensions. With negotiations stalled and mistrust entrenched, civilians remain the primary casualties of a war both sides claim to be fighting in their name.