More than 100 indigenes of the Amhara ethnic group have been killed in a deadly attack in Ethiopia’s Oromia region by suspected members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).

According to witnesses, bodies counted and buried in mass graves have numbered up to 300, while many others are still reported missing.

As the search continues, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in an address, condemned what he described as “horrific acts” in Oromiya. “Attacks on innocent civilians and destruction of livelihoods by illegal and irregular forces is unacceptable,” he said on Twitter.

The Oromo Liberation Army

The Oromo Liberation Army is an armed opposition group active in Ethiopia that consists of former armed members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) who chose to continue to continue the armed struggle against the Ethiopian government.

The OLA carries on the objective of the OLF which was majorly an armed response to the perceived injustices by the Ethiopian military and the Amhara ethnic group.

OLA’s renewed attack focuses on the Amhara people, the second-largest ethnic group among Ethiopia’s more than 110 million people.

The ongoing cycle of violence in western Oromia is driven by a central historical and ideological faultline in Ethiopian politics, one that pits a combination of Ethiopian and Amhara nationalisms against Oromo nationalism.

Oromo nationalists depict Oromos as being subjugated by the continuing legacy of oppressive political systems initiated during Ethiopia’s imperial era. Meanwhile, critics downplay the Oromo marginalisation narrative and maintain that the imperial system was effectively abolished in 1974.

Since 2020, the OLA has taken responsibility for over four attacks in the Amhara region and surrounding areas, with a casualty of over 2,000 people.