Protecting civilians and securing accountability in the Amhara conflict

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Civilians in Amhara have been harmed by every armed party, and almost no one has answered for it. Unrest in the Amhara region began in April 2023 and became armed conflict between federal forces and Fano militias in August 2023 [18][1]. OHCHR recorded 740 civilian deaths in Amhara in 2023, most of them attributed to government security forces. They included 248 people killed in 18 drone strikes between 4 August and 31 December 2023 [1]. Human Rights Watch has documented killings by government forces in Merawi in January 2024 [2] and found that the Ethiopian military's attacks on medical care in the region "may amount to war crimes" [19]. OHCHR also reported killings of civilians and attacks on medical personnel and ambulances by Fano, and Fano's military use of schools in some locations [1]. Human Rights Watch reports that teachers were abducted and threatened by Fano to keep schools closed, and that gunmen killed four teachers in Merawi whom they accused of breaking a Fano-called strike [3].

The record of the wider northern war is no different. The International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia found reasonable grounds to believe that Tigrayan and allied fighters committed war crimes in Amhara between July and December 2021. It found the same of many violations by federal and Eritrean forces and allied regional forces, including Amhara Special Forces and Fano, in Tigray and against Tigrayans elsewhere [4]. We name these findings because a protection agenda that counts only some victims will protect none of them.

The conflict has widened since September 2026. The High Commissioner reported on 25 September that a mortar strike in Kobo, "reportedly by the ENDF", caused civilian deaths. He also deplored forced mass recruitment of civilians, including children, by the TPLF, and cited "disturbing reports of arbitrary conscription by government forces" [5]. At least 52 civilians were reported killed around Alamata, in Raya, in three days of fighting from 26 to 28 September. Responsibility for those deaths has not been independently established [6]. In the Menz area of North Shewa, civilians, among them a ninth-grade student, were reported killed by stray bullets in fighting between federal and Fano forces that began on 7 October [7]. On 9 October the Secretary-General named Amhara among the regions of renewed fighting [10].

Detention has outlived the emergency that once excused it. The state of emergency declared in August 2023 suspended judicial review of detentions; it expired in June 2024 [1][2]. Arrests continued. In May 2026 the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reported arrests without court orders, and suspects not brought before a court within 48 hours, in police stations in Amhara [9]. Its annual report, presented on 9 October, says unlawful detentions "have persisted" in conflict-affected parts of Amhara, including a "widespread practice" of detaining people accused of being "Fano cells", and records complaints of enforced disappearance [8].

No international mechanism is examining this conflict. The experts' commission ended in 2023 and its findings concerned the 2020–22 war [4]. The Human Rights Council's 63rd session closed on 7 October without a resolution on Ethiopia [12]. Thirty-six organizations have since asked the Council for a special session and an expert panel [11].

Our position. Global Amhara Knowledge Hub holds that:

• Civilian protection is owed to every civilian, whoever the victim and whoever the perpetrator. We will name harm by federal forces, Fano forces, Tigrayan forces, the Oromo Liberation Army, Eritrean forces and militias alike, and we will say so when Amhara armed actors are accused.

• We support the aims of no armed group, including the Alliance for Survival and its members. Fano is not a designated terrorist organization [21], and calling it one does not license harm to civilians. Rebellion does not license it either.

• Accountability means independent investigation, with findings that are published and lead to prosecution and remedy, applied to every party.

• The test of any party's commitment is conduct that can be checked, not statements. The demands below are written so that anyone can check whether they have been met.