Ayantu, a 53-year-old mother of seven, had just finished preparing lunch for her children when military personnel surrounded her village.
They pulled everyone out of their homes and asked them to reveal members of shiftas — the informal name for members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an opposition group outlawed in Ethiopia.
For residents of Argale, an Oromo village in Ethiopia’s Moyale District, this kind of terrifying harassment had become normal. But this time it was different.
Just four days earlier, on March 10, 2018, nine people had been “mistakenly” shot dead — and 15 others injured — by military officers in the nearby Shawa Bare village. These attacks prompted the Oromo people in Tuka, Argale, Madiambo and Chamuq villages to flee into Kenya by the thousands.
For Ayantu and others, such attacks have been the order of the day for the last 20 years. Mid last year, she watched as military officers shot dead her uncle for challenging their attacks and harassment at a village meeting. And in January, her husband was arrested, alongside three other men. She has no idea what happened to him, or where he is now.
For Godana, a 52-year-old man from Tuka village, the scars from his encounter with the military are etched deep within his soul, and on his body. His abdomen and back have burn marks from attacks suffered, also for speaking up against the military harassment.
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