Amhara: The War Continues
Featured image: map of armed actions done in Ethiopia during the first week of October. Source: Ethiopia Peace Observatory (EPO).
On Friday 13th of October the mandate of the United Nations (UN) to investigate the crimes and atrocities committed in Ethiopia against the people ended. While this mandate had originated due to the Tigray War and had focused on this conflict, it had also been informing about many other crimes of the Ethiopian State against the population in other places, such as Amhara. With this decision, imperialism looked to other way and showed its hypocrisy and disinterest. It was only required that there would be one draft from one country or international organization asking for the continuation of these investigations. Although there were sights put on the European Union, no one moved a finger. We have already reported on the conflict in Amhara and the complicity of imperialism.
At the same time, last week the EPO published a compilation report of war actions in the Ethiopian State during the month of September of 2023. In September, there were 454 people killed in 158 violent political events, most of them in Amhara. The second area of more conflict has been Oromia with 41 violent events and 66 dead people. In total, there were 94 battles between armed groups and 47 actions directed only against civilians.
Specifically in the last week they have highlighted several news that show that the most conflicting points are Amhara and the border with Western Oromia. Meanwhile the people of Amhara persist in their resistance against the attacks of the Ethiopian State and had captured soldiers of the Ethiopian armed forces (Ethiopian National Defense Forces – ENDF):
The weekend of 7th and 8th of October there was a drone attack by the Ethiopian State, which killed at least 12 people in Western Oromia, close to Amhara. The inhabitants of the area denounce that bombardments with drones in the area have been frequently made by the Ethiopian State. The results of this bombardments are the death, damage and displacement of a large number of civilians. In this area, the Ethiopian State also fights against another regional militia, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).
This shows that the Ethiopian State fights against its own people in many regions: Tigray, Amhara, Oromia, etc. But in addition to this armed struggle against militias and other groups that struggle against the State, the Abiy Ahmed regime also frequently represses those who try to denounce the atrocities committed against the people: only in the last two weeks, several arrests of journalists have been denounced, which can be added to the many other arrests during the past months. Some of these journalists have been transferred to military facilities as if they were enemies of war. Their crimes according to the Ethiopian State is to “promote terrorism”. According to local media, this repressive method is common and has occurred on other occasions.
To all this it is added that recently the Ethiopian government clearly stated in a report that it would ensure by all means the access for Ethiopia to the Red Sea, and this puts the point of sight on Eritrea, and could be the source of a new conflict in the region. A new conflict that would mainly affect the people of Amhara. It is worth remembering that the political leader of Ethiopian State, Abiy Ahmed, has a Nobel Peace Prize, obtained in 2019, showing what they are worth and the criteria of the bourgeoisie when granting this type of distinctions.
All this information makes it clear that the war situation has not stopped in Amhara, and in fact in the whole of the Ethiopian State there are numerous criminal actions against the people carried out by the Ethiopian State. Meanwhile, imperialism through its institutions such as the UN, decides to abandon the investigations of the so-called “human rights” and look to another other way. Which is even more bleeding if we take into account that only one month ago, UN said that there were still mass killings in Ethiopia, arbitrary mass arrests in Amhara and pointing out the risk of committing more crimes and atrocities there. The imperialists and their institutions again take off their mask and show the importance they really give to their own justice, bourgeois law and the crimes against the peoples of the world.
