Toronto – The United States government is responding to news of massive kidnappings in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Its Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ervin Massinga, said it “must stop.” He seems to link the prevalent kidnappings to “Prolonged conflict” in the country. 

In a statement shared on social media, the Ambassador said: In a “policy speech” the Ambassador made in March 2024 at the former American Gibi in Addis Ababa, the Ambassador painted the Oromo Liberation Army in a positive light for holding talks with the government.  In his remark today about the kidnappings in Oromia, he described the kidnappers ( OLA forces) as “criminals.” 

The Ambassador also omitted recent kidnappings in the Tigray region. Last week, women activists took to the street in Mekelle, the seat of Tigray regional state of Ethiopia, after news came that a sixteen years old girl who was kidnapped in Adwa was killed and buried by her captors. 

Last week, over 100 civilians and university students were kidnapped  near Gohatsion, in the Oromia regional state. They were traveling from the Amhara region to the capital Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian government or the Oromia regional state avoided remarking about the incident.

The intensity and frequency of kidnappings in the Oromia region of Ethiopia is far more serious than any parts of the country. 

Before Abiy Ahmed was named Prime Minister in 2018, kidnapping was never a serious problem in the country. Traveling the Oromia region by road transport has become a risky business for several years now. 

Politicians and activists, including ethnic Oromo nationalist politicians like Jawar Mohammed, tend to think that kidnapping for ransom has become a state and non-state actors’ enterprise. Senior government officials in the Oromia region – who have a clandestine working relationship with Oromo Liberation Army – are said to be involved in the kidnappings for ransom. 

Source: Borkena