Ethiopia says militia wants to overthrow government

The country’s chief of intelligence reports armed groups seizing towns and whole districts, and freeing “criminals” from prison

Militants in Ethiopia’s Amhara region are seeking to topple both the regional and federal governments, the country’s Director General of National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), Temesgen Tiruneh, said on Sunday, after fighting lasted for days.

Authorities declared a six-month state of emergency on Friday following days of intense clashes between the ethnic militia Fano fighters and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), which had broken out earlier in the week.

A doctor in Debre Tabor told the media last week that more than a dozen civilians had been injured by gunshots and heavy weapons during the fighting.

Flights were grounded on Tuesday, according to local media, after Fano fighters took control of an airport in Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Residents of Gondar, Amhara’s second-largest city, told the media that they heard heavy-weapons fire into the early hours of Monday.

Director-General Tiruneh, who is in charge of enforcing the state of emergency in Amhara, admitted on Sunday that armed groups have taken control of some districts and towns in the region.

He also reported that militants which he described as “robbery forces” had released criminals from prison in some areas, and were attempting to “dismantle the regional state government.”

The Fano militia in Amhara was an ally of the ENDF during the two-year civil war in neighboring Tigray region.

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The region has been gripped by insecurity since April, when authorities began efforts to disarm forces from all eleven regions, including the Fano fighters, and integrate them into the federal military or police.

However, protesters then claimed that the government’s decision to disband non-state security forces would leave the Amhara area vulnerable to attack from neighboring regions.

The growing regional security crisis resulted in the assassination of Girma Yeshitila, the head of its ruling Prosperity Party, who had consistently justified the government’s decision to reorganize regional forces.