Ethiopia – Government is Accused of Conscripting Children as Young as 12

Reports indicate that children are being forcibly taken from the streets and held in a goods warehouse as a temporary shelter before being loaded onto buses and transported to facilities such as the Bir Sheleqo Military Training Camp.

A few of the children have managed to escape from the Bir Sheleqo Camp and reach areas controlled by the Fano forces, where they receive accommodation, food, and clothing.

In one instance, a 15-year-old boy named Feraol Megersa from Shahemene, Oromiya, was taken from his school while he was taking an exam, along with other children as young as 12. They were transported to the Belate Military Training Camp.

Feraol underwent training at the camp for one month before being assigned to the 75th regiment and sent to Gojam in the Amhara region. There, Feraol witnessed many of his friends perish in the war, and some of his colleagues were killed by the military on charges of desertion.

Feraol eventually managed to escape and hid in a farmer’s house. He asked the farmer to help him connect with the Fano forces. The Fano fighters took him in and even contacted his mother to discuss the best way to return him home. However, his mother pleaded with the Fano group to allow him to stay with them, fearing that if he were sent back, the military might conscript him again.