Sexual Violence in Amhara War Zone

Ethiopia's Hidden Conflict: A Torrent of Sexual Violence Unchecked

A brutal and largely unrecorded conflict in Ethiopia's Amhara territory has unleashed a wave of horrific sexual-based violence, shattering countless women's lives. Since fighting erupted in August of 2023, thousands of women and girls have endured rape and assault, frequently at the hands of soldiers. The violence serves as a cruel weapon in an overlooked war, leaving survivors with deep physical and psychological scars. Many victims, silenced by fear and stigma, do not ever report the crimes. The true scale of the suffering remains hidden, a devastating secret in a region cut off from the world. This crisis demands immediate attention, yet the international community remains largely silent as a generation of women is systematically destroyed. The hostilities, a complex web of political and ethnic tensions, have created a landscape of impunity where perpetrators act without fear of consequence.

The Spark of a Vicious Insurgency

The current hostilities ignited in April 2023, born from deep-seated political grievances. The Ethiopian federal government's decision to dismantle regional special forces, which encompassed units in Amhara, triggered widespread protests and armed resistance. Many Amhara, including the potent Fano militia, felt betrayed. They had fought alongside the national military throughout the vicious two-year conflict in the neighbouring Tigray region. They believed this new directive would make them susceptible to assaults, especially since brutality towards Amhara communities in other regions had intensified. In response, Fano initiated an insurrection, capturing key urban centers. The group declared their struggle was for greater regional independence and the protection of their people from government marginalisation. This defiance was met with a fierce military crackdown, plunging the area into a devastating and escalating war.

A Landscape of Unspeakable Atrocities

Since the conflict's outset, a horrifying catalogue of human rights violations has been attributed to all warring parties. Unlawful executions, random imprisonments, and the forced displacement of civilians have become commonplace. Homes and properties have been systematically destroyed and looted. Amid this chaos, sexual-based brutality has emerged as a particularly vicious and widespread weapon. Human rights organisations, among them the group Amnesty International, have gathered evidence suggesting that the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) bears a greater share of accountability for these atrocities. Reports from the United Nations and other international bodies corroborate these findings, painting a grim picture of a civilian population caught in a maelstrom of violence, with women and girls bearing the heaviest burden of the conflict’s brutality.

The Agony of a Stolen Future

For countless young women, the violence has irrevocably altered their futures. Enat, a 21-year-old hailing from South Gondar, harboured dreams of a traditional wedding in her local Ethiopian Orthodox Church, a sacred rite contingent on remaining "pure" until marriage. This deeply held cultural and religious expectation was shattered on a particular Sunday in January. Armed men breached her residence, and after a brief interrogation, one of them assaulted her in the presence of her terrified eight-year-old niece. The attack robbed her not only of her physical autonomy but also of a future she had cherished. Her story is a stark illustration of how the conflict’s brutality extends beyond physical harm, striking at the very heart of cultural identity and personal aspiration, leaving a trail of broken dreams in its wake.

A Life Paralysed by Fear

The distress from sexual assault leaves indelible marks on its victims, often leading to a complete withdrawal from society. Tigist, an 18-year-old who is from West Gojjam, worked in her family's teahouse before her life was violently upended. After she rejected the unwanted advances of a frequent patron who was a soldier, she was ambushed on her way home. A trio of armed men, one of whom was the individual she had spurned, subjected her to a brutal gang rape. The attack left her unresponsive by the road, where her family later found her. Since that night, a profound fear of men and the world beyond has imprisoned her within her own home. She was forced to end her betrothal, unable to articulate the horror she had endured, and the weight of her despair led her to attempt suicide.

The Hidden Pandemic of Trauma

The hostilities have precipitated a severe public health crisis, with the psychological and physical consequences of this type of brutality spreading like a contagion. Limited data collected from a small fraction of Amhara's health facilities reveals a harrowing reality. From July of 2023 through May of 2025, nearly 2,700 rapes were reported in just 43 clinics, with almost half the victims being children. Over 50% of those who sought help had positive results for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Many survivors were also expecting and dealing with extreme psychological distress. A high-level healthcare professional, speaking anonymously for safety reasons, cautioned that these figures represent merely what is on the surface, as immense fear of social stigma and the dread of a positive STI diagnosis prevent the vast majority of victims from ever seeking medical care or reporting the crime.

The Silent Suffering of Survivors

Fear and shame create a powerful barrier, preventing many survivors from seeking the help they desperately need. Lemlem, a twenty-three-year-old woman residing in South Gondar, has never reported the rape she endured at the hands of a government soldier. The terror of discovering she possibly had contracted HIV has kept her silent and isolated. The assault occurred in her own home after she failed to provide the information the soldiers demanded. The trauma has been all-consuming, pushing her away from her community and her place of worship, where she is afraid of being talked about. Her experience reflects a broader pattern of suffering, where the unseen scars from sexual-based violence fester in silence, compounded by a lack of access to justice and adequate healthcare services.

A Healthcare System Under Siege

The fighting has crippled the region's healthcare infrastructure, making it nearly impossible for many survivors to receive timely medical attention. Medical professionals have observed a sharp increase in patients suffering from the aftermath of sexual-based brutality. Survivors often arrive at clinics trembling and too traumatised to speak. The collapse of social and legal structures means that pursuing justice is a distant dream for most. Instead, the primary motivation for seeking medical help is often the fear of an unwanted pregnancy. Many arrive long after the attack, at which time preventative treatments for HIV, such as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), lose their potency. Roadblocks and transport disruptions resulting from the hostilities further compound the problem, leaving many stranded and without hope.

The Looming Public Health Catastrophe

Senior medical experts within the Amhara territory are sounding the alarm about a looming social and public health disaster. Based on the limited information they have compiled, these centers foresee a significant rise in HIV infections and a mental health crisis of catastrophic proportions. The psychological trauma inflicted upon survivors is immense, with some individuals tragically resorting to suicide. Data from the Ethiopian health ministry for the year 2022 already showed a higher-than-average prevalence of HIV in the area. The widespread application of sexual-based brutality as a weapon of war threatens to exacerbate this problem exponentially. Without urgent intervention and a massive scaling-up of medical and psychosocial support, the long-term consequences for the Amhara population will be catastrophic.

A Pattern of Impunity

While both sides stand accused of atrocities, medical staff and a state worker with access to data report that most instances of sexual-based brutality involve soldiers from the Ethiopian army. Most incidents are recorded in city centers where the military has a strong presence, although this may be partly due to greater access to reporting facilities in cities. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has also implicated the Ethiopian National Defence Force in sexual-based violence against civilians, including minors. Despite these credible allegations, there has been a persistent lack of accountability. The organization Amnesty International has voiced grave concerns over a culture of impunity within Ethiopia's military, noting a complete absence of meaningful efforts to hold offenders accountable.

The Government's Response and Denials

Despite mounting evidence, the Ethiopian government's response has been woefully inadequate. Repeated requests for information from the defence ministry and regional authorities have gone unanswered. An inquiry into conflict-related sexual violence has reportedly started, and this investigation, headed by Bahir Dar University, is state-sanctioned, but its findings are yet to be seen. This pattern of denial is not new. In 2021, during the Tigray hostilities, officials denounced rape but rejected similar allegations, calling them unfounded. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has publicly stated that the army does not "commit massacres," a claim that directly contradicts the findings of many human rights bodies. This official stance perpetuates a cycle of violence and denies victims their right to truth and justice.

Fano's Position and the Cycle of Violence

The Fano militia, for its part, denies any involvement in sexual violence. Asres Mare Damtie, a prominent Fano figure, asserted that the organization had no knowledge of any such accusations against its fighters and that it imposes harsh punishments, including the death penalty, for such offences. However, the conflict is marked by a vicious cycle of retaliatory violence. Human rights reports from the earlier Tigray war documented instances where Tigrayan forces committed rape and sexual assault in Amhara, sometimes explicitly as an act of revenge for abuses suffered by their own communities. This grim reality highlights how sexual-based brutality has become deeply ingrained in the hostilities, used by all sides as a tool to terrorise and dehumanise the opposition, perpetuating a spiral of hatred and suffering.

A Child Born of Violence

The aftermath of these attacks has been life-altering for survivors like Enat. One month following the rape, she departed her village, only to discover she was pregnant. Overwhelmed by the discovery, she contemplated a termination, a procedure legally allowed in Ethiopia in cases of rape. However, a combination of religious belief and fear for her own life during the procedure led her to carry the pregnancy to term. At the beginning of September, she delivered a baby girl following a challenging labor that spanned three days. Despite the horrific circumstances of her conception, Enat describes the baby with the words "gift from God." This complex emotional response underscores the profound internal conflict many survivors face as they navigate the aftermath of their trauma.

An Uncertain Future for Mother and Child

Enat's story is a testament to the enduring strength of the human spirit, but her future, and that of her daughter, remains precarious. She now resides with a family member and is incapable of working because she cares for her infant. The daily struggle for survival is a constant source of anxiety. How will she provide for herself and her child in a region ravaged by conflict, where economic opportunities are scarce and the social fabric has been torn apart? Her situation is a microcosm of the broader humanitarian crisis unfolding within Amhara, where countless women are left to raise children born of rape in the most challenging of circumstances, their lives forever defined by a war that has stolen their past and mortgaged their future.

A Call for International Action

The international community's muted response to the crisis within Amhara has allowed these atrocities to continue unabated. Limited access for independent media and humanitarian organisations has shrouded the conflict in a veil of secrecy, enabling perpetrators to act with impunity. The UN Human Rights Council's failure to renew its mandated inquiry into Ethiopia has further diminished international scrutiny. Concerned governments and international bodies must urgently press for an end to the violence and demand full accountability for all violations of human rights. This includes supporting independent investigations, providing robust funding for medical and psychosocial services for survivors, and ensuring that any future peace process prioritises justice for the victims of this hidden war.

The Indelible Scars of War

The conflict in Amhara is inflicting wounds that may never heal. The widespread and systematic application of sexual-based brutality is not merely a byproduct of the fighting; it is a deliberate strategy intended to terrorise, degrade, and destroy communities. For every woman like Enat and Tigist whose story is told, there are thousands more who suffer in silence. Their bodies have become battlefields, their lives collateral damage in a struggle for power. Until there is a concerted effort to end the violence, hold perpetrators accountable, and provide survivors with the support they need to rebuild their lives, the women of Amhara will continue to pay the highest price for a war the world has chosen to ignore.