Residents reported on Wednesday that Ethiopia’s military had forced local militias out of two major towns in the Amhara region, marking the country’s first major battlefield gains since violence started last week.
According to locals, the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) took control of the middle of Gondar, Amhara’s second-largest city, on Tuesday and reached the holy town of Lalibela on Wednesday after militias departed.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines (ETHA.UL) confirmed that flights to Gondar and Amhara’s capital, Bahir Dar, both of which have seen conflict, will resume on Thursday.
The Fano militia overran the ENDF in Gondar and Lalibela this week, causing Ethiopia’s most significant security crisis since a two-year civil war in the northern Tigray region ended last November.
The local Amhara populace recruits for the part-time militia. During the Tigray conflict, it was an ally of the ENDF, but the relationship deteriorated due to allegations that the federal government was attempting to undermine Amhara’s fortifications against bordering areas, which the government disputes
Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country and one of its most important economies, declared a state of emergency on Friday and dispatched troops to the frontlines.
On Wednesday, neither the administration nor the military responded to pleas for comment.
According to a Fano militiaman in Gondar, the ENDF, supported by anti-riot police and pro-government militias, drove the Fano fighters out of the city on Tuesday.
“There was a lot of fighting. Tanks were used by ENDF. ” Our fighters were only armed with Kalashnikovs,” he claimed, speaking on the condition of anonymity for security concerns.
According to a local official in Gondar, the military is “almost completely in control of the city.” Another Gondar resident reported seeing military personnel reach the city core on Tuesday afternoon.
According to two Lalibela locals, ENDF forces stormed the town on Wednesday morning after heavy combat on the outskirts the day before.
After many days of conflict, two residents of Bahir Dar reported that quiet had returned on Wednesday.
Amhara’s regional government issued a statement late Tuesday on its Facebook page declaring that Gondar and the regional capital Bahir Dar had been “liberated” from Fano, but the statement was no longer available on Wednesday.
The regional administration’s representative did not reply to a request for comment.
Little information about the human toll of the battle has made its way out of Amhara, but Lalibela villagers told newsmen on Tuesday that more than a dozen combatants had been slain in the previous days.
