{"id":22574,"date":"2022-05-28T06:57:36","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T06:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=22574"},"modified":"2026-07-05T17:43:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T17:43:55","slug":"ethiopia-unrest-sudden-arrest-of-4000-spells-fear-in-amhara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/05\/28\/ethiopia-unrest-sudden-arrest-of-4000-spells-fear-in-amhara\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia unrest: Sudden arrest of 4,000 spells fear in Amhara"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ethiopia’s government has launched a crackdown against a powerful and increasingly autonomous regional security force, in a bold, and potentially risky move to extend central control over a fractious nation.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The clampdown against armed groups in the giant Amhara region has seen the arrest of more than 4,000 people in recent days, including militia members, politicians, journalists, and a key military leader.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There have also been attempts to restrict gun ownership.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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These new measures by Ethiopia’s prime minister are designed to clip the wings of an increasingly strident nationalist movement in Amhara, and come months after a humanitarian ceasefire was declared in the war-torn Tigray region next door.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But it is not yet clear whether the crackdown in Amhara will bring greater stability to a turbulent Ethiopia, or further enflame ethnic tensions in a nation already struggling to contain powerful centrifugal forces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The hugely destructive Tigray conflict has shaken up a complex patchwork of internal and external political alliances – including Ethiopia’s recent rapprochement with neighbouring Eritrea, whose forces intervened aggressively in Tigray and may yet seek to do so again.<\/p>\n

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There are already reports of multiple clashes and deaths across Amhara in recent days, as well as street protests against the new crackdown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Many other parts of Ethiopia, including Oromia, are experiencing growing insurgencies and inter-communal violence which have blocked key roads and deepened economic hardship across the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Local Amhara soldiers and youth militias – known as Fano – played a crucial role in supporting Ethiopia’s federal army in its 18-month conflict with the neighbouring region of Tigray, and some now fear they’re being sidelined, or even betrayed, by the central government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Early in their offensive, Amhara forces seized a significant and strategic part of western Tigray and remain determined to hold on to it. The disputed area, along the Sudanese border, could become a new flashpoint if its status becomes part of any negotiations to end the conflict in Tigray.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Amhara’s regional president, Yilkal Kefale, confirmed the arrest of “unlawful and sometimes armed individuals,” linked to the Fano – a collection of armed youth groups accused by human rights organisations of atrocities during the unresolved civil war in Tigray.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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An Amhara general, Tefera Mamo, who heads the region’s special forces was also detained after criticising Ethiopia’s prime minister in a recent television interview.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At least 10 journalists and commentators known to have been critical of the government are also reported to have been detained in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A move by Tigrayan forces to release government troops captured during the 18-month civil war in the northern region has also been condemned by Ethiopian officials as “false information and propaganda”, amid enduring concerns that a humanitarian ceasefire in the famine-plagued region is not being properly implemented and could unravel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Parts of the country have been ravaged by the 18-month civil war<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed swept to power in 2018 promising to unite the country, end widespread repression by the security forces, and accelerate economic reforms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But after a widely praised start, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize for ending a long conflict with neighbouring Eritrea, Mr Abiy has faced mounting criticism for his handling of Ethiopia’s complex ethnic divisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This is most stark in Tigray, where a civil war triggered famine conditions and caused of tens of thousands of deaths across northern Ethiopia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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After suffering heavy initial losses, Ethiopian federal and allied troops, backed by forces from neighbouring Eritrea, eventually pushed Tigray’s military back within its own regional borders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But that apparent victory has done little to resolve Ethiopia’s wider political, military, and economic challenges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethiopia’s government has launched a crackdown against a powerful and increasingly autonomous regional security force, in a bold, and potentially risky move to extend central control over a fractious nation. The clampdown against armed groups in the giant Amhara region has seen the arrest of more than 4,000 people in recent days, including militia members, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":22575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11261,8217,6975,9204,11583,12758,12283,10327,10767,11996,9387,1572,6458,8057,2264,9807,10840,11493,5721,5572,8101,12287,8000,2807,5396,11698,3805,3174,6014,11495,6431,5655,12778,5618,11325,6730,7798,9178,10885,5251,3954,594,5784],"class_list":["post-22574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-accused","tag-army","tag-arrest","tag-border","tag-capital","tag-captured","tag-ceasefire","tag-civil-war","tag-conflict","tag-crackdown","tag-detained","tag-ethiopia","tag-famine","tag-fear","tag-government","tag-gun","tag-human-rights","tag-interview","tag-losses","tag-military","tag-militia","tag-movement","tag-negotiations","tag-northern-region","tag-peace","tag-politicians","tag-president","tag-prime-minister","tag-propaganda","tag-reforms","tag-release","tag-security","tag-seized","tag-soldiers","tag-street","tag-sudan","tag-tigray","tag-troops","tag-victory","tag-war","tag-will","tag-who","tag-youth"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51075,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22574\/revisions\/51075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}