Ethiopia’s fragile post-Tigray peace has been undercut by a separate, escalating conflict in the Amhara region, where Fano militias, once allied with federal forces during the Tigray war, have turned against the government in Addis Ababa. What began as scattered resistance to federal disarmament efforts has grown into a sustained insurgency that now touches large parts of the region, including areas near historically significant cities and infrastructure.
Fano’s grievances center on a mix of ethnic-nationalist and political concerns, including opposition to constitutional changes affecting regional boundaries, resentment over the terms of the Tigray peace deal, and broader dissatisfaction with the federal government’s handling of Amhara interests. In response, Ethiopia’s federal defense forces have launched repeated counteroffensives, but Fano’s decentralized, locally rooted structure has made it difficult to dislodge.
The conflict escalated further around Ethiopia’s most recent federal elections, which Fano factions explicitly sought to disrupt, viewing them as illegitimate given the ongoing state of emergency and restricted political space in the region. Attacks on electoral infrastructure and personnel increased sharply in the months leading up to the vote, and the government’s efforts to secure the process led to further militarization of civilian areas.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting. Reports from rights monitors describe civilian casualties spread across multiple zones of the Amhara region, alongside mass arrests of ethnic Amhara individuals in Addis Ababa and other cities, with thousands reportedly held in unregistered detention facilities. Access for independent journalists and humanitarian organizations to conflict-affected areas has remained heavily restricted, making it difficult to verify the full scope of casualties and displacement.
The Amhara conflict does not exist in isolation. It sits alongside continued instability in Oromia, unresolved tensions from the Tigray war, and a broader pattern of regional and ethnic conflict that has repeatedly tested Ethiopia’s federal system since 2020. Analysts warn that the country’s multiple, simultaneous conflicts risk reinforcing one another, straining the federal government’s capacity to respond to any single emergency effectively while eroding public trust in the state’s ability to govern fairly across its diverse regions.
International attention to the Amhara conflict has lagged behind its scale, in part because access restrictions limit independent reporting. Rights organizations continue to press for accountability and access, with recent assessments noting that continued conflict and restricted humanitarian access remain central concerns for the country.
Without a negotiated resolution addressing Fano’s core grievances, the conflict is likely to continue grinding on, further complicating Ethiopia’s already difficult path toward durable, region-wide stability.