East Africa, Horn: Civilian Suffering in Armed Conflict Crackdowns on Dissent, Civic Space; Impunity for Abuse NAIROBI, Kenya, January 16, 2025/APO Group/ -- Civilians in East Africa and the Horn bore the brunt of armed conflicts between government forces and opposition armed groups in 2024, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025. Throughout the region, the authorities have harassed activists and government critics and suppressed dissent. For the 546-page world report, in its 35th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, governments cracked down and wrongfully arrested and imprisoned political opponents, activists, and journalists. Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, drove many from their homes, and blocked access to humanitarian aid. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies. “Armed forces and armed groups in Sudan and Ethiopia have deliberately targeted civilians and critical infrastructure with near total impunity,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Regional and international bodies should urgently take concrete measures to help protect civilians and increase scrutiny of those responsible for serious violations.”

Atrocities by warring parties in Sudan and Ethiopia killed and injured thousands of civilians, with 12 million displaced in Sudan alone, and damaged or destroyed considerable civilian infrastructure. The warring parties’ willful obstruction of humanitarian assistance exacerbated famine in Sudan. Ethiopian government forces in the Amhara region committed widespread attacks against medical professionals, patients, and health facilities.

In Kenya, the authorities abducted and killed dozens of peaceful anti-finance bill protesters with impunity, and threatened to shut down civil society and donor organizations for allegedly supporting the protests.

In Ethiopia, the authorities suspended human rights organizations and intensified the harassment, intimidation, and arrests of journalists, human rights defenders, and opposition figures, forcing many into exile.

In Eritrea, the government continued to subject its population to indefinite forced conscriptions, and increased repression of its citizens abroad.

South Sudan’s transitional government postponed elections and failed to carry out meaningful reforms, further entrenching impunity for abuses.

Historically marginalized communities faced further erosion of their rights. Uganda’s Constitutional Court upheld the discriminatory 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act. In Tanzania, the government forcibly relocated Indigenous Maasai communities from their ancestral lands in Ngorongoro.

Authorities in Tanzania arbitrarily arrested hundreds of opposition supporters, restricted on social media access, banned independent media, and were implicated in the abduction and extrajudicial killing of at least eight government critics in the lead-up to local elections in November.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).