A new wave of violence has affected the Oromia region, where more than 48 people were killed in the Wacale district of northern Shewa on Nov. 1 by some gunmen who ambushed local security forces as they were moving in their vehicles to an area affected by fighting between Federal Army Forces (ENDF) and Oromia Liberation Army (OLA) militias. Among those killed in the ambush was the Wacale district administrator, Nigussie Koru, while government authorities in Addis Ababa attributed responsibility for the attack to OLA formations, which, however, did not claim it.
Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission announced on Nov. 7 that it had opened an investigation into the events in Wacale, although admitting how the security situation prevents a thorough investigation at this time on the ground, where fighting continues to rage.
Only the previous day, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had addressed the House of People’s Representatives claiming how the government was engaged in managing talks with a number of representatives of the various armed groups present in the Oromia and Amhara regions, while admitting that many of these initiatives had not been successful, although insisting on the government’s willingness to make concrete efforts to reach a peace agreement with the armed groups.
Abiy Ahmed insisted on the government’s effort to foster the economic and infrastructural development of the two regional states, while accusing the rebel militias, on the contrary, of thwarting these efforts and pursuing the mere individual interest of the various leaders who lead them.
The security crisis has been affecting the regional state of Amhara in particular for months, where the Fano militias have refused the order to disarm and integrate within the ENDF and are trying to counter above all the possible return of Western Tigray to the authorities in Mekelle, conducting constant guerrilla actions aimed at deterring the presence of Tigrayans and thus altering the outcome of the long-awaited referendum that will decide the fate of the region.
Since last October, federal ENDF forces have launched a mighty offensive against Fano formations in the Amhara, which are not organized according to a traditional, top-down model, but rather composed of autonomous and independent units, often coordinated only in a cursory manner. Nonetheless, the ability to operate in known terrain and the adoption of tactics aimed at constantly countering the federal military, but not controlling the towns, has resulted in a serious condition of instability that government units are struggling to bring under the control of central authorities in Addis Ababa. The Fano frequently launch attacks against towns and villages, striking the local ENDF garrisons, but never exerting sustained control over the settlements as a result of the militias’ inability to establish lasting strongholds.
Instead, the ENDF was accused of causing a massacre of civilians on Oct. 27 in Addis Kedam, in the Awi area of Ahmara, where 23 civilians were killed in clashes whose exact dynamics have not been clarified, but which further exacerbated tensions. Intense clashes were ongoing in the area between ENDF and Fano forces, who had temporarily taken control of the town and then abandoned it the same day. According to local sources, when ENDF forces reentered the town of Addis Kedam they began razing houses one by one, and in the course of these operations a large number of civilians were reportedly killed in clashes whose dynamics have not been clarified.
Clashes also continue to be no less intense in the regional state of Oromia, where widespread power outages are reported, moreover, as a result of damage to infrastructure during the frequent fighting.
Further alarming is the number of kidnappings occurring in the regional state, mainly as a result of the decreasing ability of government forces to ensure effective control of the region, where much of the military and police personnel are engaged in countering the operations of OLA armed groups.
