According to the administration, the army has “liberated” important Amhara towns

According to the administration, the army has “liberated” important Amhara towns

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After several days of bloody battle between the federal army and local militias, the Ethiopian government declared on Wednesday that major towns in the northern Amhara region had been “liberated”.

Residents talked to by AFP about Ethiopian military moving forward.

Later, the regional capital Bahir Dar, Lalibela, Gondar, Shewa Robit, Debre Berhan, and Debre Markos were declared to have been “freed from the threat of bandits” by the General Directorate of the State of Emergency, a government agency. All six of the towns now have curfews.

Although there have been no official reports of casualties from the violence, two doctors in Bahir Dar and Gondar said that many civilians were killed or injured.

Only nine months after a catastrophic battle in the neighboring region of Tigray came to an end, the government on Friday proclaimed a state of emergency in this area of the second-most populous country in Africa for the next six months.

During the conflict between November 2020 and November 2022, Amhara troops, notably local “special forces” and the nationalist Fano militia, were crucial allies of the government.

But since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed revealed his intention to dissolve these “special forces,” paramilitary formations created by numerous regional governors over the past fifteen years, they have been at conflict with the central government. The aim, according to Amhara nationalists, is to weaken their territory.

Federal forces, however, seem to have driven the fighters back after many days of fighting. The Amhara government declared “relative peace and stability” had returned on Tuesday evening, and the General Directorate of the State of Emergency reported on Wednesday that federal forces were “in the process of dispersing” the militia combatants.

It is unable to objectively verify the situation on the ground due to the region’s limited access.

Tanks

Residents contacted by AFP earlier in the day claimed that the army had driven back Fano insurgents in the cities of Gondar and Lalibela, which is known for its historic rock-hewn cathedrals and is a Unesco World Heritage site.

Simachew, a tuktuk driver in Gondar, declared that “things seem to be changing today”: “The ENDF (army) has taken control of most of the city after fierce fighting in recent days.”

He went on to say that “the Fano have been pushed back into just one neighborhood,” where fighting is “still ongoing,” and that “the engagement has been supported by tanks and armored vehicles which are still in the city.”

According to Ayalew, a local, “the Fano have left the town and are in the nearby forest” in Lalibela.

On Thursday, Ethiopian Airlines said it would start flying to Gondar and Bahir Dar. Dessie and Lalibela airport services are still not operating.

Deaths of civilians

A physician at the university hospital in Gondar told AFP that “around 20” civilians had passed away “after arriving at the hospital” since Friday.

Under the condition of anonymity, he continued, “More than 190 (other) people were injured and taken to hospitals, the majority of them civilians.”

He emphasized, “We’re running out of food and medicine (…) Patients are dying from a lack of blood and oxygen.”

A physician at the Felege Hiwot hospital in Bahir Dar said that 140 civilians had been injured there, 10 of whom had died.

Due to the conflict, ambulances are no longer in use, therefore “people come here on foot with their families, who carry them on their shoulders at their own risk,” he said.

On Wednesday, Save the Children, an NGO, issued a warning about the risks to civilians.

The organization’s head in Ethiopia, Xavier Joubert, pleaded in a statement, “We call on the warring parties to prioritize the safety of civilians and allow humanitarian aid to reach those in need, including 580,000 people already displaced by the previous conflict” in Tigray.

In order for the World Health Organization and its partners to “continue working there,” they demanded on Sunday that “uninterrupted access to and protection of the health system in Amhara.”

Journalist Bekal Alamirew was detained at his house in Addis Abeba, the country’s capital, on Sunday and is still there, a relative said AFP.