Ethiopia : Update on the Ongoing War in Amhara Region 

borkena 

Two ultimatums, each lasting seven days, were issued this month in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, but they have elapsed without achieving the intended outcome. The regional state requested Fano forces to surrender and lay down their arms. Days after the ultimatums were issued, the regional state announced that over 5,000 Fano forces had surrendered. However, Fano combatants dismissed this statement as wishful thinking.

Other local Ethiopian news providers, not affiliated with state-owned outlets, have reported that the conflict between Ethiopian government troops and Fano forces persists in many areas of the region.

Ethio-News, whose founder was thrown in jail nearly two months ago, reported intense fighting in the West Gojjam area. Several other local news sources have reported it. Government forces have deployed tanks and artillery in the conflict. At one point, the town of Dembecha was under the control of Fano forces, resulting in heavy casualties. However, specific casualty numbers are undisclosed, and it remains unclear whether civilians were also killed this time. Over the past six months, hundreds of civilians have been killed in the region, sometimes deliberately in extrajudicial executions over alleged support for the Fano Forces, and human rights organizations have confirmed it. 

In Wollo, most of the western areas reportedly witnessed renewed clashes between Fano Forces and the Ethiopian Defense Forces. An attack on a police station in Wogedi occurred, but it is unspecified whether prisoners were freed. Additionally, fighting has been reported in Kelala, Amhara Sayinet, and Borena areas over the past few days.

In Gondar, an ambush attack was reported. Two vehicles carrying government forces, including anti-riot and militia forces, were attacked. The casualty count is said to be severe, yet specific numbers remain unaccounted for. Social media sources claiming connections to the region suggest that Fano forces acquired hundreds of firearms from the ambush operation. In a related development, government security forces are cracking down on youths in towns like Debre Tabor. Even daily laborers who came to the town in search of employment opportunities have reportedly been detained.

Likewise, conflicts have reportedly erupted in the Amhara region’s North Shoa areas this week. Ataye and Shewa Robit areas have once again experienced fighting.  

The Ethiopian government has claimed that it has contained the conflict in the Amhara region. However, the Government Communications Services neither confirmed nor denied the latest fighting in the aforementioned areas.

Security crises persist in most parts of Ethiopia. State Minister for Peace, Dr. Seyoum Mesfin, who defected to seek political asylum in the U.S., revealed earlier this week that over seventy percent of the country is not under the government’s control.