Statement from AAA Chairman Tewodrose Tirfe

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January 28, 2026 (Tir 20, 2018 EC)

The Amhara Association of America (AAA) strongly condemns the recent military invasion of Welkait-Tegede-Setit Humera Zone (Welkait) and Telemt Woreda in northwestern Amhara Region of Ethiopia by forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). This blatant aggression, occurring under the watch and tacit approval of the Abiy Ahmed led Oromo Prosperity Party (OPP) regime and its lackeys, is a direct violation of the security of the Amhara people and a total abandonment of any pretense of lasting peace in northern Ethiopia as purported by the cessation of hostilities agreement.

This development is a continuation of the same dangerous precedent set in April 2024, when the OPP regime aided TPLF forces to invade and take over Raya-Alamata, Raya-Bala, Korem, Ofla, Zata and surroundings (Raya). This invasion involved ethnic cleansing of more than 100,000 indigenous Amhara residents and following the occupation, the TPLF with support from the Federal Command Post subjected residents to systematic targeting, persecution, and repression, demonstrating the grave consequences of the regime’s deliberate policy of acquiescence and collusion with TPLF expansionism.

For decades, the indigenous Amhara population of the Welkait, Telemt, and Raya territories suffered under forced annexation and apartheid-style rule by the TPLF. The current military campaign is a continuation of a decades-long campaign of genocide, ethnic cleansing and demographic engineering designed to erase Amhara identity in these territories.

Importantly the invasion of these lands is also an expansion of more than five years of unabated genocidal war waged against millions of Amhara people by the OPP, TPLF and their allies in Ethiopia. This has been an unprecedented development unlike anything seen anywhere in the world, and warrants close engagement by all stakeholders and observers, both national and international, to press for ending the unnecessary violence in the area and pursuing genuine lasting peace for all Ethiopians.

Tewodrose Tirfe, AAA Chairman