𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝟑𝟔𝟎 released 16/01/2016 Ethiopian Calendar (September 27/2023)
The document is from a meeting top Ethiopian military officials had with top government officials. It gives an assessment of the achievements and challenges faced by the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) in Amhara region. Note: They don’t call Fano by its name in this document, referring to it as “extremist group” or “this group”. Anything in brackets () was not in the document and is only there to give context.
𝐀𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬:
1. The extremist group (Fano) is decentralized so that has made it a challenge to finish this operation quickly. Its lack of centralization makes it’s hard to finish the law enforcement operation in a timely manner.
2. In some places this group has so much public support, it’s hard to root it out from the people.
3. This group has infiltrated the government institutions so deeply that they have managed to avoid ENDF operations by getting information ahead of time.
4. This groups' guerrilla warfare and ambush’s on the army has caused extensive damage and disrupted our supply lines.
5. These sustained attacks have caused exhaustion and division within ENDF.
6. The people (Amhara) have been subject to so much propaganda, that they now see the Ethiopian army as an enemy and are supporting the group.
7. The newly established regional administration has not setup its zonal and wereda administration at the speed it’s expected to.
8. Some of the extreme actions we took (war crimes), with legal backing of the state of emergency, to put fear in the people has been secretly recorded and released, damaging ENDFs good reputation.
9. Our shelling of homes and places of worship in some of the urban fightings has made the people suspicious of us.
10. Our troops that were sent into cities for assessment have been accused of rape and looting by the people. We’ve received multiple complaints. People have tried to protest in some places where our troops were accused of rapPost too long. Click here to view the full text.
