In the midst of fierce combat between government forces and a local militia group, an explosion in the town of Finote Selam in northwest Ethiopia has claimed at least 26 lives.
According to Manaye Tenaw, CEO of the Finote Selam General Hospital, an additional 50 persons were hurt in the explosion on Sunday. There may have been more casualties, but these are just the patients being treated at the hospital.
Tenaw claimed to CNN that only one explosion, whose origin is unknown, was heard by witnesses.
He noted that in the days preceding the explosion, the hospital had previously cared for more than 160 patients as severe fighting broke out early this month throughout the Amhara region between government forces and a local militia known as Fano.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) expressed “grave concern” over the intense fighting that started on August 3 between the two factions “following months of tension and sporadic clashes,” it said in a statement on Monday.
After days of fighting, the Ethiopian government declared a six-month state of emergency in the Amhara region on August 4.
The government and the Fano militia were formerly allies in the violent two-year fight that ended in November, but relations have soured recently as a result of the militia’s opposition to a federal government initiative to dissolve regional forces.
Nationalists from the Amhara region claim that this will jeopardise local security.
According to the EHRC, there was “heavy fighting in and around cities and towns across the Amhara region, which involved the use of heavy artillery, resulting in the deaths and injuries of civilians.”
“EHRC has also received credible reports of strikes and shelling, including from Debre Birhan, Finote Selam, and Burie resulting in many civilian casualties and damage to residential areas and public spaces,” the organisation stated, noting that comparable reports had been compiled in the region’s two largest cities, Gondar and Bahir Dar.
In the nation’s capital, Addis Abeba, the panel also reported “widespread arrest of civilians who are of ethnic Amhara origin.”
Gondar and Bahir Dar inhabitants told CNN on Monday that the cities are now relatively calm. In a televised statement on Friday, a government spokesperson said that federal soldiers had “freed” cities in Amhara.
While intense conflict has decreased in major urban centres after August 9, 2023, it is still a serious issue in other sections of the region until a long-term solution is found, according to the EHRC.
Asserting that “previous states of emergency have been accompanied by violations of human rights,” the United Nations “called on all sides to respect human rights and take steps to deescalate the situation” in a statement released on Friday.
In a joint statement released on Friday, the governments of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America highlighted the civilian deaths and urged all parties to “protect civilians, respect human rights, and to work together to address complex issues in a peaceful manner.”
The federal administration, the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, and the Amhara regional government have all been contacted by CNN for comment.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in March that the country has publicly concluded that war crimes have been perpetrated by armed troops on all sides of the conflict in northern Ethiopia.
At a press conference for the release of the State Department’s 2022 Human Rights Report, Blinken stated, “After the department’s careful review of the law and the facts, I’ve determined that members of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, Eritrean Defence Forces, Tigray People’s Liberation Front forces, and Amhara forces committed war crimes during the conflict in northern Ethiopia.”