In June 2024, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reported 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.
The BBC asked Ethiopia’s ministry of defence to respond to allegations, but despite months of waiting, we have not received a reply.
Repeated BBC requests for detailed information from regional authorities were also unsuccessful.
A Fano leader, Asres Mare Damtie, told the BBC the group was unaware of any involvement by its fighters, saying no accusations had been made against them and it enforces severe punishment, including death, for offenders.
The BBC has learned that a government-commissioned investigation led by Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar University into conflict-related sexual violence against women in Amhara has begun, with findings expected to be released publicly in the coming months.
In 2021, when the army and its allies – which then included Fano – faced similar allegations over their conduct in the Tigray conflict, the government condemned the use of rape but dismissed the claims as “biased and flawed”.
To date, no official action has been publicly disclosed against perpetrators.
Amnesty International has raised concerns over what it believes is a persistent pattern of impunity in Ethiopia’s army. “There is no meaningful effort to bring perpetrators into justice,” says the organisation’s regional researcher, Haimanot Ashenafi.
“They’re still fighting, they are still out there with no consequences for what they’ve done… survivors who have gone through this life-changing experience deserve justice.”
For Enat, the consequences of her attack have been far-reaching.
A month after the assault, she fled her village to escape the trauma of the attack.
It was then she learned she was pregnant as a result of the rape.
“I started vomiting,” she recalls.
She thought of having an abortion, which is legally permitted in Ethiopia up to 12 weeks into pregnancy if a woman is raped, but she was scared.
“I feared God, and I felt for my mother. What would become of her if I died during the abortion?”
She gave birth to a daughter in early September after three days of labour.
Despite what happened to her, Enat considers the baby a “gift from God”.
But she is currently living with a relative and is unable to work as she has to look after her daughter. She worries for the future and how she will provide for her child and herself.
“If this is what is considered to be living, then yes, I am living,” she adds.