Fano movement lists drone strikes on civilians in Amhara, Wollega and Arsi as rumors of a leader’s surrender spread


First page of an Amharic statement by the Amhara Fano National Movement dated Hidar 1, 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar

The first page of the Amhara Fano National Movement’s statement on attacks on civilians, dated Hidar 1, 2019 in the Ethiopian calendar (November 10, 2026), as shared on X. The figures in it are the movement’s own and could not be verified. Credit: Amhara Fano National Movement, via @Geteriew1 on X.

The Amhara Fano National Movement says government drone and air strikes killed dozens of civilians in Amhara and Oromia, in a statement issued Tuesday as supporters disputed claims that a senior leader had surrendered.

The three page Amharic statement from the movement’s public relations department, known by its initials AFNM, accuses the federal government of turning its weapons on villages, markets, churches and schools because, in the movement’s words, it is losing on the battlefield. The statement calls the incidents it lists “verified mass killings,” but it gives no names for most of the victims and offers no photos or other evidence for them, and Mereja Media could not confirm any of the figures.

The longest section is about Wollega, in Oromia region, far from the Fano heartland. The statement says a planned drone strike on November 4 killed three children and two mothers in a town in Abe Dongoro woreda of Horo Guduru Wollega zone, and that the next day, a market day, government forces carried out more than 38 jet and helicopter strikes on Abe Dongoro town. It says a drone strike near a place called Sadma in Kiremu woreda on November 7 killed children, mothers and old people, and that another strike hit a shelter for people who had fled Ali, Fedeka, Melka Sami and other villages, killing more than 29 and badly wounding others.

In Arsi, also in Oromia, the statement says more than 40 Christian Amharas were killed on November 5 in Endode kebele of Robe woreda and were buried together, and that more than 100 Amharas have been killed in Arsi in two weeks. That section does not say who carried out the killings. Arsi has seen a series of deadly attacks in recent weeks, including the Shirka killings and the dawn attacks that officials and the OLF blamed on each other, and the death tolls given by officials and residents have often differed.

In South Gondar, the statement says a drone killed four children who were herding cattle in an area called Mesal Dingay near Debre Tabor at about 11 AM on November 5 and seriously wounded two young men. In Meket woreda of North Wollo, where Fano forces said last week that they had captured dozens of soldiers, it names four civilians it says government soldiers killed on November 9 around Wekita and Filakit Gerger, among them a priest, Kes Dereje Ashagre, and a woman, Mulu Abate.

The movement also says telephone and internet service has been cut in many woreda towns and rural kebeles, and names Hagere Mariam, Berehet and Minjar Shenkora in Shewa. It says the blackout keeps the wounded from reaching hospitals and hides what is happening from the outside world, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross and aid groups have been unable to reach people in need.

It asks the United Nations and the European Union to set up an independent investigation, asks rights groups to document the killings, asks the ICRC for a humanitarian corridor, and calls on Ethiopians and diplomats to press the government to stop drone strikes and restore communication.

By Tuesday evening, Mereja Media had not found any response to the statement from the Ethiopian National Defense Force, the Government Communication Service or the Amhara and Oromia regional governments. Officials have also not commented publicly on several earlier reports of civilians killed by drones, including the strike witnesses described at a school in Dera and the October strike on the Hayiq Jari camp.

Claims about Asres Mare

The statement came on a day when accounts supporting the government spent hours posting that Asres Mare Damtie, a senior AFNM leader who has often spoken for the movement on political issues, had “surrendered.” One account posted a graphic of his photo with the words “Asres Mare has surrendered!” Another, Habtish Gurmu, wrote “welcome back in peace, Asres Mare.” A Tigrinya language account went further and claimed that another commander, Getasew Adane, had also handed himself over to the army with thousands of fighters.

Mereja Media did not find any statement from the government or the army confirming a surrender, and no photo or video showing Asres Mare in government hands. Fano supporters pushed back. Mulugeta Anberber posted a photo of Asres Mare in front of fighters in red berets and wrote that he “is still at work today.” Dagmawi Belay wrote that the struggle had not stopped when other commanders left and would not depend on any one person. The Horn African Guy, an account that posts daily summaries of the war, reported that Asres Mare had rejected the reports and said he would come to Addis Ababa only after the government falls; Mereja Media could not find that statement in its original form.

Claims of mass surrender are not new. In May, Asres Mare dismissed an Amhara regional official’s claim that 33,000 Fano fighters had laid down their arms, asking who would be left if that were true, Borkena reported. In August, News Addis reported that Marshet Tsehaye, a spokesman for Fano in Gojjam who had been in a dispute with another Gojjam commander, had surrendered to government forces.

Readers who want background on the movement can read our explainer, What is Fano?

Sources

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