Ethiopia

Ethiopia's Amhara Region: Army battles Fano militia in Bahir Dar unrest

Amhara Fano fighters walk in the ransacked terminal at the Lalibela airport in Lalibela, on December 7, 2021. (AFP/File)

By Foreign Reporter | Friday, March 1, 2024

Government officials in Addis Ababa have said on several occasions that the violence in Amhara, the second largest region in Ethiopia, is under control.

Conflict erupted in Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region, Ethiopia, involving government security forces and the non-state militia, Fano.

According to Addis Standard, residents reported gunfire in areas referred to as "Abay Mado" and "Kebele 14" on Thursday evening.

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This is the first fighting in Amhara since the early days of the conflict last year.

Ethiopian forces have been fighting insurgents from the Fano militia since July last year in a conflict that left more than 200 people dead, according to UN reports.

Government officials in Addis Ababa have said on several occasions that the violence in Amhara, the second largest region in Ethiopia, is under control.

However, the state-led human rights commission has reported repeated unrests and violence including drone strikes and house-to-house raids by government forces in areas outside the capital.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Amhara Communication Bureau announced that the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) and security personnel have collaboratively undertaken operations to locate and apprehend members of an "infiltrated extremist group" within residential areas of Bahir Dar.

The Bureau affirmed, "At this juncture, Bahir Dar city and its environs have been cleared of this extremist group."

The fighting in Amhara broke out less than a year after the government struck a peace deal in November 2022 to end a two-year bitter civil war in the neighbouring Tigray region that killed hundreds of thousands of people.