According to local Ethiopian media reports, Ethiopia has been unstable for some time recently, with ongoing domestic conflicts. In May, clashes broke out with Fano forces in the Amhara region, and the government army deployed as many as 90,000 new recruits for military operations, yet this still had no effect.

However, the previous conflicts mainly occurred in the Amhara region, but recently clashes and kidnappings have also occurred in Oromia, where the capital is located. According to reports, armed militants of the Oromo Liberation Army attacked a public bus in the Wuchale area of North Shewa Zone, causing 3 deaths.

According to local residents who witnessed the incident, the driver was injured and escaped, but all passengers on the public bus and another minibus were kidnapped by the armed militants. However, just a few days later, another kidnapping occurred on the A3 highway north of the capital, Addis Ababa.

According to media reports, this time the gunmen kidnapped three buses, with more than 100 students, most of them from Debre Berhan University. This incident took place in the area of Gerbe Guracha town, about 155 km from the capital Addis Ababa, in the direction of GohaTsion town. 

It is alleged that Ethiopian government forces, including the national defense forces, militia and the region's special forces, all rushed to the scene but found nothing. The kidnappers demanded a huge ransom, and according to the families of the university students, the kidnappers demanded 700,000 Ethiopian birr.

Based on messages from the families of several university students over the past few days, these kidnappers all demanded ransoms of 500,000 to 1,000,000 Ethiopian birr from them, but some family members said they could not even come up with 7,000 birr, let alone 700,000. Moreover, these families all sought help from Debark University and the Ethiopian government, but they have seen no action from the government. The families are in agony over the demanded ransoms and the government's inaction, hold no hope for the government, and believe the best choice is to pool funds to pay the ransom.

The latest news indicates that the head of the Oromia Regional Communications Bureau said 160 students have been released, but 7 students are still being held captive. The regional government said security forces took part in the students' rescue, and the rescue of the remaining students is still underway, but this statement is still questioned by many students' families.

It also did not clearly state where the students were held during this kidnapping, why it was impossible to secure the release of the remaining 7 students, and it is unclear whether the two sides exchanged fire or whether other such situations occurred. Therefore, local people believe that in the future the organization may plan more kidnapping operations.

However, the group long believed to have planned these kidnappings is the Oromo Liberation Army, but yesterday, a statement released by the Oromo Liberation Armyhigh command said that the kidnapping incident was meticulously planned by Ethiopian national intelligence officials and lower-level party cadres, that the Prosperity Party leadership used kidnapping and ransom as a political tool to slander its opponents, and pointed out that it was carried out by the fake Oromo Liberation Army led by Shimelis in carrying out kidnapping operations in the region. The Ethiopian government has consistently linked the Oromo Liberation Army to kidnappings and massacres in Ethiopia's Oromia region.

Currently, this incident has drawn attention from multiple parties. The United States Embassy in Ethiopia condemned the recent surge in kidnapping-for-ransom incidents in Ethiopia's Oromia and Amhara regions, and called for an end to the kidnapping of civilians and students in the region for economic gain. The United States Consulate in Ethiopia has designated Ethiopia as a Level 3 region, requiring careful consideration before travel.

In addition, in May, the Chinese Consulate in Ethiopia issued a notice stating that multiple regions in Ethiopia are high-risk areas, and some regions are extremely high-risk areas, reminding citizens and institutions traveling to Ethiopia to understand the local travel risk levels and safety reminders. That notice has still not been lifted.

However, Ethiopia is currently hosting the Cup of Excellence COE coffee competition, gathering international judges from multiple countries, including the United States, China, Japan and others, and it will attract many coffee enthusiasts, coffee traders and bean hunters to the country. But recently there have been multiple kidnapping incidents in areas not far from the capital, which may pose potential dangers. For this reason, do not travel to the Ethiopian region to engage in activities for the time being.

In addition, Ethiopia had already encountered various problems earlier, leading to a decline in coffee export volume, and the current occurrence of multiple kidnapping incidents means that for some coffee traders, traveling to Ethiopia carries relatively high risk. For this reason, they will turn their attention to Ethiopia's neighboring countries or other African coffee-producing countries. This will hinder the development of Ethiopia's coffee industry and affect its international influence.