The sound of heavy weapons, including cannons, has reportedly been heard in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, North Shewa Zone, Kewet Wereda(district), and in and around Shewarobit city.
Residents told The Reporter that there has been heavy fighting in and around Shewarobit starting Thursday till this morning by using cannon which might have targeted the Fano militants.
They said they had never heard before such sounds of the heavy weaponry’s firings which were coming from Hyma and Zuti, targeting Kobo Aregay Tsebel and Firfir areas of the city’s Administration.
Students, including children, have been injured by the cannon’s attack, said residents.
According to the residents, the Drone strikes also killed farmers in Yelen town, Kewet Wereda a few days ago.
A renewed fierce fighting between the government forces and Fano militias broke out this week in Menz and Kewet Weredas (districts), the North Shewa Zone of Amhara region, where a drone strike occurred in Bash Mama Midir of Menz Wereda.
A renewed fighting throughout the Amhara region erupted at the beginning of last month, following the ENDF’s announcement of a “decisive offensive” against Fano militias on October 1, 2024.
Following the offensive, the government forces have reportedly used heavy weaponry including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or drones.
Human casualties in the shadow Drone strikes
50 civilians, including pregnant women, were killed by Drone strikes in North Gojjam Zone of the Amhara regional state on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, BBC Amharic reported.
The drone strikes killed people who were playing volleyball, elders at the mission of mediation, women at medical care, day laborers, and people who were around the church and farming.
Drone strikes killed dozens of civilians in Ethiopia’s Amhara region
Earlier this month, on October 16, 2024, drone strikes reportedly killed several civilians surrounding Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara regional state, and other areas in Gojjam and the North Shewa Zones (provinces) of the region.
The drone strikes killed more than 300 civilians until September 2024 alone since the fighting broke out, according to the recent report of The New Humanitarian.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report reveals that the use of drones by the ENDF/Ethiopian Air Force caused 248 civilian deaths, with 18 registered drone strikes in the region just between 4 August and 31 December 2023.
OHCHR underscored that the situation in the Amhara region is “concerning” with a total of 740 civilian deaths recorded in 2023 alone, “most of which were attributed to the government security forces”.
Gravely concerned about human rights violations in Ethiopia’s Amhara and Oromia, says the U.S.
On November 6, 2024, Amnesty International called for an end to the month-long detention of thousands in the Amhara Region, accusing the regime’s troops of arbitrarily jailing civilians in makeshift detention camps, calling it a “routine tactic”.
“Ethiopia has entered a new era of disregard for national, regional, and international human rights obligations,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
Fighting between the Ethiopian National Defense Force (END) and Amhara Fano militiamen erupted in July 2023, although tensions intensified 3 months earlier in April 2023.
