Ethiopia’s federal government on Friday declared a six-month state of emergency as violent clashes escalate between the national army and local fighters from the northern region of Amhara.
The fresh unrest in Africa’s second-most populous country comes just nine months after the end of a devastating two-year war in the neighboring region of Tigray, which also drew in fighters from Amhara.
“It has become necessary to declare a state of emergency, as a situation has emerged where it has become difficult to control this unacceptable movement under current law,” the office of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on social media.
Photo: AFP
The government communications service later said that the measures would cover Amhara “for six months,” but could be imposed “nationwide in relation to any situation or movement that aggravates the security problem.”
Clashes in Amhara have escalated in the past few weeks, prompting travel warnings from foreign governments and the grounding of flights.
Tensions have been rising since April, when the federal government announced it was dismantling regional forces including in Amhara, where nationalists feared the move would weaken the region.
On Thursday, local authorities in Amhara asked the federal government for assistance managing security as the situation had become “difficult to control” and was causing social and economic disruption.
The government said the violence “endangered the constitutional order” and the decision to invoke a state of emergency was “unanimous.”
Street rallies and gatherings are banned, while anyone found contravening the provisions of the order could face “imprisonment of between three to 10 years.”
The decree also allows the authorities to declare curfews, and for suspects to be searched and held without a warrant.
A resident of Lalibela told reporters on condition of anonymity that the town and its airport were under the control of the local militia Fano.
“There is movement of civilians and people as we speak, and there hasn’t been any exchange of fire” between federal forces and Fano fighters, he said, adding that Internet had been restored after an hours-long outage.
A rickshaw driver in Gondar, another city in Amhara, said that the Internet was down and the mood was “tense” following fighting on Thursday.
“Fano [fighters] are roaming around the city here and possibly preparing for a big fire exchange” in case federal troops, which had retreated, return to Gondar, he said.
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