Beyond the Numbers: Civilians Have Been Forced to Pay a Heavy Price Over Two Years of War in Amhara Region
- AAA-admin
- Apr 17
- 15 min read
Updated: Apr 18
Disclaimer: This is an English translation of an Amharic article taken from BBC Amharic and is intended solely for information purposes.
Beyond the Numbers: Civilians Have Been Forced to Pay a Heavy Price Over Two Years of War in Amhara Region
Kassaye Damtie
BBC Amharic
April 14, 2025
The armed conflict in Amhara Region which approaches two years has intensified in recent weeks say residents. It is reported that government forces and Fano militants have incurred losses against one another.
The Amhara Region which is the second largest in the country has faced bloodshed in a major conflict before the signatures which ended fighting in Tigray could dry.
The armed conflict in Amhara Region which began in April 2023 (Miyazia 2015 EC) has resulted in suffering and hopelessness beyond taking lives say residents.
Human rights organizations have reported extrajudicial killings, attacks on civilians, extrajudicial arrests, enforced disappearances, property destruction and looting in the region.
According to a recent announcement from the government an estimated 10 billion dollars is needed to restore property lost as a result of the conflict in the region.
Though the 10-month state of emergency order ended on June 5, 2024 (Ginbot 28, 2016 EC) the region has remained under a de facto state of emergency say experts who spoke to BBC.
A human rights professional who asked that their name not be mentioned described the regional crisis as "multifaceted and complex."
Daily activities have been impacted in the region, and disruptions to education and medical services has left residents living in fear.
Over the past six months 148 mothers have lost their lives due to childbirth and 70 people have lost their lives to Malaria according to the regional government.
Over 4.2 million students or 60% of students in the region due not have access to education, and parents say they have faced monetary fines to send their children to school.
The Amhara Regional Higher Education Forum reported more than five thousand women were raped and brought to medical institutions between July 2015 and September 2017. However, the number is estimated to be higher.
Residents say whether by one road or another there is no place and no life which has been unaffected by the conflict.
“Death would be better”
The historic town of Lalibela was once a town which attracted worshippers and guests to visit the town’s heritage sites.
The town relied on tourism. The majority of residents made their living either directly or indirectly through tourism.
Starting in 2012 E.C. however the town’s former appeal became shrouded, and the conflict which erupted at the end of 2015 E.C. engulfed the town leaving many silent say tour guides and residents.
“It is possible to say there is no longer any tourism. At this time everything is closed” says one resident explaining that their hotel workers became dispersed, and that everyone who relied on tourism to make a living were left without any means to make a living.
“It can be said that all activities have stopped. Town residents and tour guides have been exposed to severe problems” says chairman of the Lalibela tour guides association Ato Istalu Kelemu whose association includes 165 tour guides, who added this has been “a time of hardship.”
A father of three children who has worked as a tour guide for 15 years, Ato Tsegaye said, “things are hopeless. When people are seen standing and walking one assumes they can eat and sleep. When I leave and return my wife asks me for money. But where can I get it from? It has become difficult” he said describing his situation and adding “death would be better.”
“Life has become difficult. It’s out of concern for my children that I have continued living. Now I want death” he said expressing his hopelessness.
The tour guides say they were once able to support others but over the past year they have been forced to seek assistance says Ato Istalu “it hurts the spirit, it is demoralizing.”
Ato Tsegaye describes the problem he faced saying “a burden upon a burden”, describing the impact of inflation resulting from the conflict, “the money we manage to get has been unable to purchase anything. The standard of living has severely increased” he said describing the compounded problem.
Another resident of Lalibela town said the situation in the historic town was “beyond anyone’s means, it is beyond what people can bear.”
“If you leave everyone else, even government workers are sleeping with empty stomachs. The [Lalibela] city administrator, in a desperate attempt has brought some supplies and distributed them through loans” they said describing the impact of the conflict on the standard of living.
Lalibela is a town which has seen repeated battles, on numerous occasions Fano forces have taken control of the town and airport causing flight disruptions.
The town’s iconic holy churches have faced great danger from heavy weapon tremors and stray artillery according to religious leaders who spoke to BBC.
The circumstances have caused the way of life to become difficult in Lalibela town however life has become difficult for residents throughout the region.
In Merawi where on January 2024 government forces carried out a mass killing, one resident who serves the church says their monthly salary of three thousand birr “has made living difficult.”
One father of six says the cost of teff has multiplied, while inflation of the cost of basic items has made it impossible to survive.
A human rights professional who follows the region closely but opted for anonymity says, “if one item travels from Addis Ababa to Bahir Dar or to Gonder, there are taxes imposed at various places enforced by government militias or militants, which has caused merchants to raise prices.”
One merchant in Bahir Dar city says, “it is not possible to bring in items like before. Items could be delayed by one or two months. They could stop along the road, and could be taken. We are forced to consider this when selling.”
They raised that government has siphoned taxes and contributions for corridor development which has made the cost of living from bad to worse.
Health insurance payments in the region which was formerly optional has become mandatory and now residents are forced to pay significantly greater payments say residents.
Regional government workers which are said to experience severe challenges with surviving have faced salary disruptions lasting months particularly in areas under control of Fano militants.
Teachers who have faced threats from both armed actors and as a result of salary interruptions they say they have resorted to selling items they can find in their homes.
In areas under control of Fano forces banking services have been disrupted and residents with accounts in these areas have been unable to withdraw their money even by traveling to other areas.
In areas under government control, sources say they have had their property confiscated under accusation of being “family members of Fano” and have suffered attacks and threats.
In the midst of this, civilians have suffered killings making the region a land of tears say residents in various parts of the region.
How a four-month-old infant perished
The day was Wednesday, December 04, 2024 (Hedar 25/2017 EC). Starting in the morning fighting broke out between government forces and Fano militants in Shewa Robit town of North Shewa Zone.
When heavy artillery rattled the town residents were unable to leave their homes. As they did before residents hid using their beds or whatever cover they could find to save their lives.
This is what Ato Demeke’s family of five did. They lived in a mountainous area called Qimbo (Church) which made them more fearful. Heavy artillery shells fell in their neighborhood.
Inside the home a pregnant mother picked up her four-month-old infant and her other family members and hid under the bed. Suddenly a heavy artillery shell landed on their home.
“At around 9 am there was chaos. A heavy artillery shell entered through the roof. It passed through the home’s structure...it came down. When the shell landed on the ground the home became engulfed in smoke, we were unable to see each other, when they cried out I thought they were finished” he recalled the incident.
When Ato Demeke stood up and went to where his family had been hiding he found that his fears were true.
The four-month-old infant lost her life due to injuries to her skull while in the embrace of her mother he said.
“She went silent immediately” says Ato Demeke. A metal shard “the size of a drinking glass” entered the infant’s skull and was the cause for her death.
But when this happened he didn’t realize he had been injured as well. He and his wife who was embracing the infant sustained injuries to her arm.
The infant was named Mulualem but was called “Mamiye” by her mother and their family members.
A life born on September 02, 2024 was lost to heavy artillery on December 04, 2024.
“The child’s mother won’t speak to us because she is badly hurt inside. Ever since that time she has been mostly silent. We know she is upset and deeply hurt” says a family member, and for this reason she left her family members without saying goodbye and disappeared to the middle east.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recently issued a report stating that heavy artillery fire and drone attacks which were used without adherence to principles of necessity and proportionality have killed a significant number of civilians including children in a cruel manner.
Following withdrawal of Fano forces, government security forces have carried out “acts of revenge” have been widely reported.
“When government forces face attacks they target and kill whoever they encounter in the area. There have been similar attacks in many areas” says one human rights professional.
Former minister of foreign affairs who administered the region for five years Gedu Andargachew (PhD) says, “the majority of the country’s army is in Amhara Region at this time. The air force, the ground force, commando and those known as special forces, federal police and regional special forces have been reinforced from time to time as the region faces military rule and severe destruction” adding that attacks have been routinely carried out against civilians.
The people of the region have faced “hardships” from all sides says the human rights professional, “when the militants control a woreda and ENDF soldiers entered they begin questioning who did what with whom? Then they take fatal measures” saying such acts are carried out by both actors.
It has been said that the Fano militants have carried out targeted attacks against local officials and individuals suspected of having ties with the government.
At the end of last November more than 30 government officials were killed in Dega Damot Woreda of West Gojjam Zone according to eyewitnesses and the local government administration who spoke to BBC.
The Amhara Fano in Gojjam’s Public Relations Officer Ato Marshet Tsehayu, “cadres across every woreda and zone have fought equally as combatants alongside the ENDF...they have engaged us face to face. The same way they take measures when they encounter us, we have taken measures when we encounter them.”
A mother’s labor and a family’s distress
Under the Amhara Region’s health system there are 100 public hospitals, 923 health stations, 3,725 health tents (ጤና ኬላዎች), 882 ambulances and more than 1,500 private health centers.
Despite this, in various parts of the region armed conflict has resulted in damages to a significant number of health centers which has disrupted provision of health services across the region.
According to a report prepared by the Amhara Region higher educational institutions forum between July 2023 and September 2024, 969 health centers have faced damages and looting. And more than one thousand health professionals have resigned from their jobs and moved to other areas or were killed in the fighting.
Health centers have also been targeted by drone attacks and beyond this it has been said that health professionals have suffered attacks and threats under accusation of “treating Fano”.
Beyond this, shortages in medicine and medical supplies, travel restrictions and safety concerns has left patients without medical care.
It has been said that a significant number of ambulances have been captured by government forces or by militants.
One professional who worked in a health station in North Gojjam Zone says of the six ambulances which were providing services in their woreda, only one ambulance remains.
Gedu (PhD) raised that during his time as regional president between five to six ambulances were allotted to each woreda to reduce the maternal and infant deaths associated with childbirth and now says “the majority are now under use by the ENDF.”
In Efratana Gidim Woreda of North Shewa Zone, Woizero Bizuwork* who was pregnant, lost her infant child because she was unable to receive timely care.
At the time of her delivery she went to the local health center which was unable to help her give birth and gave her a “referral” but she was unable to go in a timely manner.
“It was not possible to travel at night, it was unsafe” she says raising security concerns in the area.
After three days of labor to deliver her second child she reached a hospital but she was not fortunate enough to be told, “congratulations, Mary has graced you (with a safe delivery).”
“The doctors said if I had come quickly nothing would have happened to the baby. They told me ‘but now you are hurt, and the child is hurt as well.’...when he was delivered he was fatigued but he looked ok” says Woizero Bizuwork recalling the circumstances of how she lost her child, “what can be done?” she says in sorrow.
“She was losing a lot of blood” says Woizero Bizuwork’s husband expressing his joy that she survived.
As a result of the fighting in the area roads were closed “how could family members travel to visit us? Who could bring us food? We were in trouble” he said explaining additional problems they had faced.
One specialist in mothers’ and children’s health who works in a primary hospital located in the Oromo Special Zone, said mothers are giving birth in their homes due to lack of ambulances, security concerns and lack of options.
“How can one travel during the day let alone at night? If this isn’t well thought out there is no circumstance to travel to a health center at one’s desired time” says the professional, adding for this reason mothers and children are losing their lives.
A few months ago a pregnant mother who lived near a hospital gave birth to twins inside her home out due to fears says the professional, “her family members said, ‘she is dying, she is losing blood’” recalling how they came to the hospital without the patient.
BBC reviewed a report from the regional council on the 2017 annual budget mid-year report which indicated that over the past six months 148 mothers lost their lives due to complications associated with childbirth.
Medicine shortages have impacted people with diabetes, blood pressure and epilepsy, says one health professional who says lack of treatment could result in risks to the patient’s health and potentially to their life, describing the scale of the problem.
The conflict has had a “severe” impact on the health system says Amhara Region public health institute director Ato Belay Bezabih who says the region is in a “complex public health crisis.”
“There are problems impacting prevention and control of diseases, provision of supplies to the public, and freedom of health professionals to work” he says.
Infectious diseases like Cholera and Malaria have spread, and the conflict has made control of infectious diseases difficult.
“There is a major problem to controlling spread of infectious diseases within a short time period. It takes time, they spread, and if they spread people will die, it will prevent people from receiving swift care and prevent them from being cured” he says.
In 2017 EC over the course of six months 1.3 million people contracted Malaria and 70 people lost their lives from the disease.
If the conflict continues like this, professionals fear what is to come saying the believe things are going backwards, Ato Belay however says scientific research is needed to say this.
As a result of the conflict security concerns have caused numerous humanitarian organizations to stop their work.
In just two zones in the region over 200,000 people including children face severe food shortages, and professionals say not enough nutritional foods and humanitarian assistance have been provided.
“The entire community has been arrested”
In relation to the state of emergency declaration in the region a large number of people were “targeted by identity” and subjected to arbitrary arrests in Addis Ababa and Awash Arba according to rights groups.
After the declaration was lifted more than six thousand people were detained for months being accused of “supporting Fano” starting from September 29, 2024 (Meskerem 19, 2017 EC) and were kept in four main detention facilities.
Among these detainees was Wollo University Biology Department Head Dr. Ayalew Talema.
He and 13 other university professors were encircled in their homes at night by security forces and were “extrajudicially” detained in the Choresa military camp located near Kombolcha city for five months they told BBC.
More than one thousand people were detained with 100 kept in each hall of the camp and the detainees included children up to elderly people, mothers and persons with physical disabilities.
The detainees included farmers, merchants, doctors, teachers, clergy, judges, bank workers and government officials and police says Dr. Ayalew, “the entire community was arrested.”
The detainees were held for an entire month after which they were separated into four groups as “Fano fighters, logistics providers, informants and activists” and only 200 people including himself were released on October 31, 2024 (Tikimit 21, 2017 EC) and brought before the Dessie courthouse, he says.
That day “was the day I felt the most sorrow in my life” says Dr. Ayalew adding they were charged en masse with “involvement in carrying out crimes of closing roads and abucting people for money, burning schools and health centers, preventing the public from allowing their children to go to school, and violating the constitution by force” says the university professor.
The police officer that was asked to present the "comprehensive indictment" in person, accused Dr. Ayalew of "recruiting members through ties with anti-peace forces," but the court allowed him to be released on bail due to "lack of evidence."
However, he says despite his right to bail they violated the court order and took him and the other detainees from the entrance of the Dessie correctional facility and detained them again.
The detainees say in addition to their imprisonment their bank accounts were frozen, saying they closed their organizations and suspended their salaries exposing their families to hardship which they called a “death sentence.”
Health professional Woizero Genzebe Tegegne’s* spouse was detained for months after being accused of “treating Fano” in his private clinic leaving their four children in distress.
Following his arrest, she says the clinic was shut down and their bank account was frozen.
For this reason, they had to let their six workers at the clinic go, she says they faced “severe suffering.”
“There was a small amount of money in an account I opened for my child. I moved using this. Then that amount was depleted” says Woizero Genzebe who says she was forced to take loans from others to survive.
Her 64-year-old spouse contracted pneumonia while in prison, “I suffered greatly having to travel back and forth on my own” says Woizero Genzebe, when their clinic was closed down, their laboratory chemicals and medicine became expired and unusable.
Woizero Genzebe’s spouse, Dr. Ayalew and other detainees were detained unjustly for months and were forced to take “re-education training” and were released after three rounds.
Despite this one human rights professional says there are many detainees who have not been released and whose whereabouts are unknown.
“It has no end”
The Amhara Region has 13 zones and many city administrations, and it is believed the region is home to more than 32 million people.
As a result of the 2 year armed conflict in the region daily life and social activites have been hindered in many areas often dependent on the belligerents.
One person who serves the church says they are unable to go to the church in the early morning “tomorrow’s preachers would go to the church today and spend the night.”
One human rights defender says the conflict has opened the door for “lawlessness”, who adds this led to a rise in arrests, harassment, killings, abductions for ransom and theft.
They said residents have left behind their homes and property to escape conflict and crimes which it has brought forth.
One resident of Merawi town described the displacement saying, “many people have closed down their homes and left.”
The displacement has been “the wealthy to the cities and the poor to rural areas.”
Addis Ababa and Bahir Dar have been primary sites of refuge for displaced persons. Despite this, residents say surviving in cities like Addis Ababa is challenging while traveling with family and having left behind their employment.
Political analyst Dr. Yeshitila Wendimeneh says, “the national government structure, power, distribution of wealth, matters of representation and the transition towards democracy are all factors which led to the conflict.”
Former minister of foreign affairs and national security advisor to the prime minister Gedu (PhD) says he believes efforts to respond to political questions through military force has created the present chaos in the region.
In various areas questions raised concerning “attacks targeting Amhara people” grew but before they could be addressed the war with Tigray broke out says Gedu, and says that this war has also created scars and further grievance as it spreads across the region.
Though the Fano movement which emerged during the war with Tigray was initially praised by the government, it began to be seen as a threat following the Pretoria peace agreement.
Following the agreement Fano militants were labeled an “irregular force” which led them to be drawn into conflict with security forces, however the campaign called one of “disarmament” became the main cause for the start of the armed conflict.
Fano militants which are organized in various parts of the region say they took up arms “to ensure the survival of the Amhara people”, but the government on its side says it is carrying out a law enforcement operation against “extremists and bandits.”
At this time the region is between the two forces, government forces control major cities while Fano forces control smaller towns and rural areas.
Beyond everyday residents, security concerns in the region have prompted local officials to stay in government military camps and to use escorts for all movements.
“There is no development, but there is destruction. There are no schools being built, only being destroyed….the scale of destruction is making it difficult to rebuild the region” says former regional president Gedu Andargachew, who says the region has been set back 30 to 40 years.
What is the way out?
It is not known when the conflict that has ravaged the Amhara region will end.
It appears the way out has become obstructed for residents in the region. They say their only hope lies with their creator and that they have lost all hope in the government.
“Unless God resolves it, nobody can” says a resident of Lalibela town.
Professor of Political Science Dr. Yeshitila Wendimeneh says he believes the region’s problems will be resolved once these foundational problems are addressed through dialogue.
“Problems cannot be resolved through force” says Dr. Yeshitila, “both sides must choose trusted negotiators, build mutual trust, show readiness to accept any outcome that comes out of negotiations, and to negotiate. If this can be done it will be possible to save the whole country from ruin let alone the region” he says.
“Chaos creates more chaos” says Dr. Gedu Andargachew who said the chaos in Amhara Region could spread to other regions, and that the solution is not dialogue or a peace agreement but rather “systemic change.”
He said, “if dialogue could resolve it, I would be elated. My preference would be if this could be resolved through political means. However, the current regime has no desire to resolve these issues through political means. It is not trustworthy for dialogue.”
It has been said repeatedly that the government seeks to resolve the problem in Amhara Region through peaceful means, but the desire from Fano forces is unclear. In relation to this it is not clear whether there has been any tangible initiative towards talks.
BBC for weeks attempted to contact regional officials and the head of the ruling party’s branch in Amhara Region, but these attempts were unsuccessful.
*Names changed for security reasons
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