Ethiopia loses control of some districts and towns to militia fighters

Ethiopia’s Cabinet declared a six-month state of emergency last week in the region as clashes and mass protests intensified over a plan to absorb regional forces into the military

Nairobi: Ethiopia’s federal government says it lost control of some districts and towns to militia fighters in the country’s Amhara region during the latest conflict emerging in Africa’s second most populous nation.

Residents reported heavy gunfire and military aircraft overhead in some areas. Ethiopia’s Cabinet declared a six-month state of emergency last week in the region as clashes and mass protests intensified over a plan to absorb regional forces into the military.

---

The federal government has tried to centralise security powers after the end of a devastating two-year conflict in the country’s Tigray region, where Amhara regional forces and militia were key allies of the federal military.

Now, however, Amhara residents, who were badly affected in that conflict, accuse the federal government of trying to undermine their region. Authorities reject the accusation but see the regional fighters as a threat to constitutional order. Ethiopia’s intelligence chief and the official overseeing the state of emergency, Temesgen Tiruneh, acknowledged that irregular Amhara forces had taken control of towns, released inmates from prisons and seized government institutions. “These forces have the desire and goal of dismantling the regional government and then moving on the federal system,” Temesgen said.

Gunfire could be heard on Monday morning in the Amhara towns of Gondar, Lalibela, Debre Birhan and the regional capital Bahir Dar, residents said, and main roads were blocked across the region. “Debre Birhan is like a battlefield. There is an exchange of fire every minute,” said an official in the town, which is on a main road 135 km from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Residents said the informal Amhara militia known as Fano now controls Gondar and Lalibela, which are the main tourist towns.