Following days of skirmishes between the federal troops and local militias, mobile internet service was disrupted in areas of Ethiopia’s Amhara region on Thursday, according to five locals.
A simmering conflict has erupted this week between the Fano militia and federal authorities, who were friends during the two-year civil war in the adjoining Tigray area that concluded last November.
According to a diplomatic source, the battle was sparked by a military effort to force Fano rebels out of specific locations.
On Thursday, two citizens in Amhara’s capital, Bahir Dar, and three in Gondar, the country’s second-largest city, reported that mobile internet connections were unavailable. They did not want to be identified for security concerns.
During periods of violence and social turmoil in Ethiopia, authorities have regularly restricted internet access.
Requests for comment from the federal government and the Amhara regional administration were not immediately returned.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen stated that the situation in Amhara was “becoming concerning,” an unusual admission of an internal security issue by a top federal government official.
This week has seen fighting in a number of cities and villages. According to a local government official, confrontations started on the outskirts of Gondar on Wednesday and continued on Thursday.
Fano is a paramilitary organisation with no defined leadership structure. Its relationship with federal authorities has deteriorated in recent months, with some in Amhara accusing the government of ignoring the region’s security.
After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered that security personnel from Ethiopia’s 11 regions be incorporated into the police or national army, violent demonstrations erupted across Amhara in April.
Protesters said the directive was intended to destabilize Amhara, Ethiopia’s second-largest province. The federal administration disputed this, claiming that the goal was to maintain national unity.
