Fighting between Ethiopian government and militants resumes

Fighting broke out on Friday in the Amhara regional capital of Bahir Dar between Ethiopian government forces and members of the Fano militia, according to residents and the regional government.

It was the first round of violence since the conflict erupted last year.

The Amhara government said in a statement on Friday that army and security forces would “carry out joint operations and house-to-house surveillance around Bahir Dar to root out extremist forces that have infiltrated the city”.

The statement added that the Fano militias retreated and were unable to “resist the combined strength of the security forces.”

The Fano militia has no formal organizational structure and could not be reached for comment. According to the Rift Valley Instituteis a non-profit research organization with multiple Fano groups in the area, each with no formal leadership structure.

The rebel group had teamed up with the army to fight militants in Tigray, which has endured a two-year civil war that ended in 2022, but they fell behind after Fano accused the government of leaving the Amhara region vulnerable to security threats. Relations become strained. The government denies this.

A peace deal was negotiated in November 2022 that ended the civil war, but fighting broke out again in Amhara less than a year later and has intensified since.

Another source of recent tensions is the Ethiopian government’s attempts to dismantle the Fano rebel groups after realizing they were gaining power and momentum.

The Rift Valley Institute said that after 2022, “efforts have been made to disband and reintegrate [Fano] groups entered the community,” met with backlash and “resulted in some armed confrontations with government security forces.”

Ethiopia’s government-appointed human rights commission says violence has increased in recent months, with reports of house-to-house attacks by government forces and drone strikes increasing.

Certain information in this report was provided by Reuters.