The armed group contradicts the military’s declare of getting ‘destroyed’ the previous ally within the Amhara area.
Ethiopian troops have killed greater than 300 Fano armed group fighters, former allies towards rebels within the Tigray area, in two days of renewed clashes within the northern Amhara area, in accordance with the military.
The navy claimed in a press release on Friday that the fighters had carried out assaults in numerous zones of the Amhara area earlier than being “destroyed” by the military.
The assertion mentioned that 317 Fano fighters have been killed and 125 others injured.
Nonetheless, Abebe Fantahun, spokesperson of Amhara Fano in Wollo Bete-Amhara, contradicted the tally, telling the Reuters information company late on Friday the military had not killed even 30 of their fighters.
Yohannes Nigusu, spokesperson for Fano in Gondar, Amhara area, mentioned 602 federal military troopers have been killed within the combating and 430 wounded, whereas 98 troopers had been captured and weapons had been seized by the fighters.
Former allies
The Fano fighters fought alongside the Ethiopian military and Eritrean forces in a two-year conflict towards the Tigray Individuals’s Liberation Entrance, which controls the northern Tigray area.
Since then, Eritrea and Ethiopia have fallen out, with the previous excluded from peace talks to finish that conflict in November 2022.
Preventing between the military and the Fano fighters broke out in July 2023, following Amhara’s sense of betrayal relating to the phrases of the 2022 peace deal.
Final yr, the TPLF break up into two factions led by Debretsion Gebremichael and Getachew Reda, every claiming get together management.
The military’s assertion on Friday accused Brigadier Basic Migbey Haile, a senior navy official allied with Debretsion’s faction, of supporting the Fano fighters’ assaults within the Amhara area.
“Brigadier Basic Migbey Haile is an anti-peace and anti-development promoter who has a historical past of placing the folks of Tigray into conflict with none navy data,” the military mentioned.
Nonetheless, Abebe informed Reuters that that was a “lie” and denied the overall had any hyperlinks to the Fano fighters.
‘Abusive military appearing with impunity’
Fears of a brand new conflict emerged in current weeks after Eritrea reportedly ordered a nationwide navy mobilisation and Ethiopia deployed troops in direction of their border.
In the meantime, Human Rights Watch has accused the Ethiopian navy of human rights abuses and committing conflict crimes throughout its ongoing battle towards the Fano fighters.
Final yr, Human Rights Watch discovered that a number of dozen civilians have been executed within the city of Merawi in Ethiopia’s northwestern Amhara area.
“The Ethiopian armed forces’ brutal killings of civilians in Amhara undercut authorities claims that it’s attempting to convey regulation and order to the area,” deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch, Laetitia Bader, mentioned.
“Since combating started between federal forces and the Fano militia, civilians are as soon as once more bearing the brunt of an abusive military working with impunity,” she added.
