Detention by government forces in South West Shewa (8 Apr 2026)
- Ref
- OHRM-2026-0298
- Date of incident
- Zone
- South West Shewa
They were all farmers who were falsely accused of having links to OLA in order to extort money from their families. They were released on 8 April after payments of up to 100,000 birr were made for each of them. Their families were forced to sell land, livestock and property in order to secure their release, ‘exposing them to long term hardship.’ Sums of 1,000 birr from merchants and 500 birr from farmers were extorted by government forces in Shankur Xaraqo village, Bacho district, on 27 April. Those who refused to pay were beaten and imprisoned (ONM).
Source: Oromia Support Group, OSG Report 73 (2026-06-12), p.27. https://oromiasupport.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/OSG-Report-73-12-June-2026.pdf