Ethiopian Army clashs with the People of Amhara and Its militia Fano
The war officially is started in the cities of Amhara region All roads in bahrdar debremarkos debrebirhan and other cities Gondar city have been ordered to be closed. At this time, the defense vehicle captured in Gondar city and the security guard army of the system are in this form of the Amara Fano in the Gondar Tedros Brigade army.
A resident of the town of Kobo in northern Amhara said there were clashes between Fano fighters and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) in the Tekulesh area, a 40-minute drive outside Kobo, between 1am and 9am on Tuesday. The work of public and private organizations in Debremarkos has been suspended. Entrance and exit doors are closed.
Ethiopia's military has clashed with fighters from a militia in the Amhara region, residents said on Wednesday, in a sharp escalation of a simmering feud between the two former allies.
The Fano militia
backed federal troops in a two-year civil war in the neighbouring Tigray
region that ended last November, but the relationship has soured over
what some in the region say is a disregard by the national government
for Amhara's security.
The Fanos of Gondar have officially announced that armed struggle has been declared throughout Amhara. The war officially started in the cities of Amhara region All roads in Gondar city have been ordered to be closed. At this time, the defense vehicle captured in Gondar city and the security guard army of the system are in this form of the Amara Fano in the Gondar Tedros Brigade army.
A resident of the town of Kobo in northern Amhara said there were clashes between Fano fighters and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) in the Tekulesh area, a 40-minute drive outside Kobo, between 1am and 9am on Tuesday. The work of public and private organizations in Debremarkos has been suspended. Entrance and exit doors are closed.
Another Kobo resident said heavy weapons fire was heard on Tuesday morning but the situation was calm on Wednesday.
“Government offices in Kobo are almost all closed and they are not providing services. There are ENDF [soldiers] in Kobo,” said the second resident. Both residents declined to be identified for security reasons.
A diplomatic source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said fighting broke out several days ago when the military launched an operation to force Fano fighters out of Kobo and a few other areas.
Fano militiamen had seized the town of Lalibela, about 65km west of Kobo, the diplomatic source said.
On Tuesday, the state-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation quoted ENDF spokesperson Col Getnet Adane as saying the military would take unspecified action against Fano for “disturbing the country’s peace”.
He cited several recent incidents in which Fano fighters had opened fire on ENDF soldiers but did not say when they had occurred.
Getnet and spokespeople for Ethiopia's federal government and the Amhara regional administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Fano fighters took part in a week of violent protests across Amhara in April after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered regional security forces be integrated into the police or national army.
Protesters believed the order was meant to weaken Amhara — the second biggest of the country's 11 regions — and leave it vulnerable to attacks from neighbouring regions. The federal government denied this.
Minilik Salsawi
