US ‘concerned’ about growing violence in Ethopia’s Amhara

US ‘concerned’ about growing violence in Ethopia’s Amhara

Source: AFP, Tuesday November 5, 2024

The United States has voiced concern about growing violence in Ethiopia’s Amhara state, scene of an insurgency since last year, the country’s top diplomat said late Monday.

The Fano, a long-standing “self-defence” militia for the Amhara ethnic group, the second largest in Ethiopia, took up arms against the federal government in April 2023 after it tried to disarm regional forces.

The government declared a state of emergency in the region, home to some 23 million people, in August 2023. While this expired in June, unrest has continued with a large contingent of federal forces deployed in September.

Following a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Blinken expressed “concern about growing violence in Amhara” and “underscored the need for political dialogue to address Ethiopia’s other internal conflicts”.

Blinken and Abiy also discussed “rising tensions” in the region, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said in the statement.

Relations between land-locked Ethiopia and neighbouring Somalia have nosedived following Abiy’s January deal with a breakaway Somali region to lease a stretch of their coastline, infuriating Mogadishu.

Somalia has declared the agreement “illegal” and moved closer to Addis’ long-standing rival Egypt.

Last week Abiy told his country’s parliament he had “no interest in getting involved in a war”.

Ethiopia, which has the second largest population in Africa with 120 million people, lost access to the sea when Eritrea gained independence in 1993.