[3][4][5] The plan was to expand the capital into the Oromia special zone, leading to fears that native Oromo farmers would lose their land and be displaced.

[4][5][40] Protests spread throughout 400 different locales across 17 zones of Oromia region[41] according to Amnesty International 800 Oromo protesters killed since started[3] The 2016 Oromo youth demonstrations started because Addis Ababa's new city master plan proposed including farmlands from the surrounding Oromia region to cope with the city's rapid expansion.

[52] After 18 months of severe drought with almost nothing left over to eat for drought-affected people, very strong torrential rains that started in April 2016 did worsen the situation until October 2016.

[54] But while economic development and growth and industrialization are supported a lot by the authoritarian government, often the needs of the rural population remain unconsidered, the freedom and civil rights of farmers and pastoralists in particular are often neglected.

[55] According to diplomatic, NGO, and opposition sources, hundreds of thousands of people marched in more than 200 towns and cities in the vast Oromia State,[56][57] in protest at "the government's draconian and ever-escalating repression".

[60][61] People died in a stampede as a result of police using tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges,[37][60][61] falling into a deep ditch and being crushed,[61] or drowning in a lake.

[37][38][58][60][61][62] On August 6, hundreds of protesters marched on Meskel Square in Addis Ababa and shouted "we want our freedom" and "free our political prisoners".

[65] In July 2016, the Anti-terrorism task force detained members of the Wolqayt Amhara Identity Committee (WAIC), a legally registered organisation.

Soon after, protests erupted in many areas of the Amhara Region, the historic ethnic center of the Ethiopian state and home to the spectacular monolithic rock-cut churches of Lalibela and medieval castles of Gondar that attract tourists from all over.

Anti-government street demonstrations and "stay at home" protests took place in small wereda towns and in some cases in rural kebeles across the six zones.

Maina Kiai, a U.N. rights rapporteur, said "The scale of this violence and the shocking number of deaths make it clear that this is a calculated campaign to eliminate opposition movements and silence dissenting voices”.

In January 2018, Ethiopian security forces killed seven people and wounded several others in the town of Woldia, 500 km north of Addis Ababa along the main road to Mekele.

A huge crowd of people were parading through the streets of the town for the annual Timket festival, an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian celebration of Epiphany when a group of young men protested because the federal police forces prohibited them from making round dancing and chanting.

[84] The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (UNHRC) condemned the incident in Woldia, stating that the incident “reportedly took place when the security forces tried to stop people from chanting anti-government songs and allegedly opened fire on them", and that "protesters reportedly later blocked roads and destroyed a number of properties.”[85] This comes just two weeks after Ethiopia's ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, officially announced its intention to undertake reforms following protests that began in 2016.

Protesters gathered around the town's police station to condemn the security forces' brutality at a religious ceremony in Woldia their not being held accountable in a court of law.

[86] Later on, thousands demonstrated, opposing the killings of innocent people at Timket festival in Woldia and calling for an end to police beatings, with protests reported in Habru districts of Mersa, Robit, Gobiye, all of the towns crossed by the main all-weather road from Addis Ababa to Mekele.

[87] The Ethiopian government denied violence was being committed by the country's security forces, naming regional rivals Eritrea and Egypt as fomenting the ongoing unrest.

Rep. Smith was joined by U.S. Representative Mike Coffman as well as victims of torture at the hands of the Ethiopian Government Seenaa Jimjimo, Tewondrose Tirfe and Guya Abaguya Deki, during a press conference to announce this legislation.