Date: October 14, 2024

Subject: Alloutwar

Dear Sir,

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s waves of military campaigns for well over a year in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia have failed to achieve tangible results for his regime. But the regime, yet again, has called for an all-out renewed effort to win the civil war by any means necessary. The failure of the campaign is because the Fano movement in the Amhara region is not merely an armed rebellion led by disgruntled youth as the regime claims, rather, it is a popular movement that enjoys widespread support from the grass-roots population. This resistance stems from years of systematic oppression, political and economic marginalisation of the Amhara people, and killings and arrests of Amhara elites and elected parliamentarians. The regime declared the war as a final attempt to crush the Amhara people as they have been seen as a threat to ethnic-based politics in Ethiopia by successive regimes. After the military campaign was declared placing the region under a state of emergency, an economic blockade prohibiting freedom of movement of goods and people, displacement of millions of people followed by mass arrests of civilians, and destruction of public infrastructure as well as private properties. Gross human rights violations and war crimes continued against the Amhara people throughout the ongoing civil war. Lawlessness even outside the conflict zones, abduction for ransom, and a complete breakdown of the fabric of the society have become the whole mark of the current regime which is riddled with corruption, cronyism, and nepotism. 

The regime refuses to confront the reality that it cannot win the war when the population of the entire region is in support of the resistance. The government has been responsible for the killings of innocent civilians, arbitrarily incarcerating thousands of Amhara not only in the Amhara Region but also throughout the country, displacing millions from their homes, and pushing countless others to the brink of starvation. The regime’s army has disrupted the lives of millions, preventing five million children from enrolling in school and converting education and health facilities into military encampments.

The military campaign has achieved nothing but the tragic loss of thousands of young lives on both sides devastated the Amhara Region and led to the free fall of the country’s economy. Abiy Ahmed and his military machine, driven by a thirst for power, have terrorised their people and destabilised the entire region. The regime’s unwillingness to self-reflect or show any insight into the consequences of its actions further reveals its dangerous lack of foresight.

We urge the international community to acknowledge Abiy Ahmed for the tyrant he has become and cease all financial aid that could be diverted to fund the purchase of weapons and military hardware that is used in the needless military campaign.  Any financial support to the regime only perpetuates the violence it is committing against its people and gives a lifeline to the government that is bound to fall. The international community should act to ensure that humanitarian assistance is provided to the population that is affected by the violence unleashed by the regime and that any aid is not misused and weaponised against the Ethiopian people.

 

Yours sincerely,

Federation of Amhara Association in Europe