Who is Fano? Inside Ethiopia’s Amhara rebellion
‘I have been in the jungle, struggling for my people.’ For the past 20 months, Ethiopia’s Amhara region has been torn apart by a bloody conflict between federal forces and a coalition of militia known as Fano, who demand full Amhara control of all territory they regard as part of their homeland. It’s a war in which the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) has been accused of extreme human rights abuses, and indiscriminate drone strikes by the military have killed hundreds of civilians. The conflict is largely waged in the rural highlands, but Fano has also managed to penetrate urban areas – raids that have triggered a violent response by the security forces. A woman who runs a small coffee stand in the regional capital, Bahir Dar – who asked not to be named for her personal safety – said her brother, a tuk-tuk taxi driver, was one such casualty. He had been on the streets when Fano launched a night-time attack on 26 August. “The police detained him as a suspect,”...