Amhara clashes give Ethiopia fresh ethnic nationalism headache

Ethiopian authorities this week vowed to thwart a rebellion that erupted in the Amhara region last month, although tensions have been simmering since April.

But whether the violence is quelled now or not, it may not end the headache of ethnic nationalism, something Ethiopia has been trying to end since November last year, when Addis Ababa signed a peace deal with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the rebel groups it went to war with in 2020.

In Amhara, the Fano militia has opposed the government's decision to disband the regional security forces, arguing that it threatens the identity of the Amhara region. They also feel betrayed by the November 2022 peace deal, which they say does not address their claim to Western Tigray as part of Amhara territory.

As old enemies, Amhara and Tigray fought on opposite sides. Amhara regional forces allied with the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) against the TPLF. As it turned out, they had a common enemy but different reasons for fighting.

Cameron Hudson, a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)-Africa, said that even if the Amhara rebellion is in retreat, the violence is a reminder of how precarious the government's grip on the country is. "It highlights the shortcomings of the narrow peace deal that ended the fighting in Tigray but failed to address Ethiopia's other conflicts," he said.

While the ENDF wanted to contain a threat to national security, local militias wanted to take advantage and reclaim what they saw as their ancestral lands.

Suleiman Abdella, a member of the Middle East Media Monitoring and political activist, says Fano should not be seen simply as a disgruntled militia group. Rather, they are an offshoot of the historic freedom fighters in the Amhara region who protected Ethiopia from colonial ambitions in the past.

"Today, Amhara youth are taking up this legacy and fighting for the future of Ethiopia. The conflict between Fano and (Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed) Abiy's army is a struggle for Amhara's survival," he said on his X page this week.

Ethiopia has never been colonised, although Western powers, notably Italy, tried and lost in some of the historic battles. But the country's pride in defeating the colonialists masks historical ethnic divisions. Amhara and Tigray, for example, have had one of the longest-running ethnic rivalries. The upsurge has been a continuous fracturing of national politics.

The new violence follows the same pattern as the November 2020 conflict, in which the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) took up arms to defend the autonomy of the northernmost region of Tigray.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to power in 2018, has been accused of allowing his majority Oromo community to pursue the self-determination agenda by displacing other communities from the Oromia region.

Since July, the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) has been engaged in intermittent fighting against the Amhara Fano militia, which fought alongside the government in the two-year war against the TPLF.

The Fano briefly took control of the airport at Lalibela and made partial inroads into the Amhara regional capital, Bahir Dar, and the city of Gondar, where they looted weapons and ammunition from police stations and raided a prison, freeing some prisoners. They have since been repulsed, according to the official ENDF update.

Binalf Andualem, the Minister of Peace, described Fano as 'terrible'. On 4 August, the government declared a six-month state of emergency in the region.

But some of Fano's fighters have moved into the mountains, forcing the government to carry out air strikes that killed at least 26 people earlier this week. This is the first time the government has used aerial bombardment in the Amhara region.

However, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said in a statement that it had reliable information that air strikes and shelling had caused civilian casualties in Finote Selam and other towns.

This week, on 16 August, the chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, appealed to the parties to immediately cease fighting and engage in dialogue.Mr Mahamat said he had been following with great concern the ongoing military confrontations in the Amhara region and that the continental body stood ready to support an inter-Ethiopian initiative in the pursuit of peace and stability.

"The AU is firmly committed to the constitutional order, territorial integrity, unity, and national sovereignty of Ethiopia to ensure stability in the country and the region," he said.

In April, Dr Abiy decided to disband all special forces in the nine states and integrate them into the federal army or police force to promote national unity.

The violence in Amhara reflects opposition to this. On 12 August, Dr Abiy presided over the graduation of Ethiopia's elite force to deal with restive regions. "This force has been tasked with the dual objective of preventing fighting and, if pushed, fighting. Our elite forces will maintain a resilient and great Ethiopia and bequeath it to future generations," he said.

According to the EHRC, federal forces have managed to push the Fano militias out of most major towns in Amhara, but clashes have continued in other parts of the northern region.

The country is divided into nine ethnic regions, and the constitution allows for self-determination if any region feels marginalised. The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel group, for example, is fighting for 'self-determination'.

Ethiopia's regional states have specialised forces to guard their borders and fight rebels. But to promote national unity, the government wants the special forces to be integrated into the federal army or police force.

Ethiopia consists of 9 states: Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, Benishangul-Gumuz, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), Gambella and Harari - and two administrative regions - Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa.