Thousands of women and girls as young as eight have been raped by soldiers in Ethiopia during the army’s crackdown on local militias.
Horrifying new accounts by victims shed light on how women have been subjected to some of the most brutal and extreme forms of sexual violence in insidious attacks by members of the army.
Speaking to the BBC, one 21-year-old victim called Enat described how soldiers entered her home in South Gondar in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, and began forcefully interrogating her and her family about whether Fano fighters – a local militia – had visited them.
After admitting that they had, Enat said she was violently raped in front of her eight-year-old niece.
Enat, who was a virgin at the time and planned to remain celibate until marriage in accordance with her Orthodox Christian beliefs, said: ‘It would have been better if they had killed me.’
But she is not the only woman to have undergone such a harrowing attack at the hands of the Ethiopian army.
Eighteen-year-old Tigist, also from Amhara, says she was groped in January 2024 by a soldier who regularly visited her family’s teahouse.
Hours after the assault, she claims three soldiers, including the man who groped her, approached her in the street and proceeded to gang-rape her on the pavement.
Tens of thousands of women and girls as young as eight have been raped by soldiers in Ethiopia after the army began cracking down on local militias. File photo: An Ethiopian woman looks out onto the street with her daughter inside an IDP (internally displaced person) Center
Human rights groups have condemned the Ethiopian army, who they say are largely behind the numerous rapes of women and girls in the conflict-ridden nation
She describes how her family found her unconscious on the roadside and how she was bed-bound in a clinic for five days.
Nearly two years after the attack, Tigist remains unable to leave her house because she is fearful of men attacking her again.
‘My fear keeps me from going to work… Whenever I see soldiers or any men I panic and hide myself away.’
Having been deeply scarred by the assault, Tigist called off her engagement and attempted to take her own life.
Sexual violence in the Amhara region goes largely undocumented, but according to data collected by the BBC, there were 2,697 reports of rape between July 2023 and May 2025, with children accounting for 45 percent of these cases.
The figure is believed to believed to be significantly higher as many victims never report the crime or seek treatment.
One 23-year-old woman named Lemlem says she never reported her rape or sought medical treatment.
She was raped by a soldier in January this year after members of the army visited her home to ask for information.
According to data collected by the BBC, there were 2,697 reports of rape between July 2023 and May 2025, with children accounting for 45 percent of these cases. File photo: Ethiopian women in a 2021 protest against the government
The conflict in Ethiopia began when the government attempted to disband regional military groups which had fought during the 2020-2022 civil war in the region of Tigray. Pictured: An internally displaced woman washes the face of a child in the makeshift camp where they are sheltered in the village of Erebti, Ethiopia, on June 09, 2022
Lemlem detailed how she was threatened by the man, who told her he would shoot her if she screamed.
‘I wept non-stop for a whole month. I couldn’t eat. All I did was cry. I couldn’t stand to walk. And I fell gravely ill.’
She added that the assault has driven her away from church due to the stigma around sexual assault.
The conflict in Ethiopia began when the government attempted to disband regional military groups which had fought during the 2020-2022 civil war in the region of Tigray.
Fano militias felt betrayed by the move and launched a rebellion.
The revolt has resulted in a violent crackdown by the army and since the conflict started, both sides have been accused of numerous human rights abuses, including rape.
Human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the Ethiopian army’s actions and has called on the government to take the necessary steps to ensure violence on women and girls is stopped.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported last year that the Ethiopian National Defence Force, which includes the army, had perpetrated sexual violence, including against minors, in the Amhara region during the conflict with Fano militia.
Harrowing accounts of violence against women in the African nation comes after 25 girls were abducted from their boarding school by gunmen in Nigeria.
The assailants, armed with rifles, attacked the Maga Comprehensive Girls’ Secondary School in Danko Wasagu, Kebbi state, at around 4am on Monday morning.
Police in Nigeria confirmed the abduction of the female students and have now launched a search and rescue operation for those who were taken.
