'I'm scared to leave Addis Ababa': Ethiopia's Oromia region gripped by kidnapping 'pandemic'

The gunmen came for Alemetu when she was sleeping. They marched her out of her home in Ethiopia's Oromia region and took her to a disused school in the countryside, where she was held hostage for four weeks. About 40 fighters were living at the school, although hundreds of men passed through. Alemetu, who was pregnant when she was taken, said her captors beat her with a horsewhip. On one occasion, she was tied up and suspended upside down from a tree for several hours, an ordeal that left deep psychological and physical scars. She was released only after her…