{"id":755056,"date":"2026-09-27T09:10:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T13:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/755056"},"modified":"2026-10-07T23:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T03:34:09","slug":"army-talks-wisdom-and-restraint-while-amhara-prisoners-and-fano-fronts-stay-under-abiy-ahmeds-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/755056","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopian Government army chief promises \u2018wisdom and restraint\u2019 as Amhara prisoner transfers and Fano fighting continue"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, chief of staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, speaks on 5 April 2023 (Eri-TV, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5) [file photo].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, chief of staff of Ethiopia\u2019s federal army, told Al Jazeera on September 27 that the army is answering what he called provocations from the Tigray front with \u201cwisdom and restraint.\u201d They were his first comments on the latest fighting in the north. He accused Eritrea of funding and supporting armed groups to weaken Ethiopia. He also spoke of \u201cTsimdo\u201d (\u133d\u121d\u12f6). Addis Standard reports that Ethiopian officials use the word for what they describe as an alliance of Eritrea, the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front, and other armed groups. Eritrean and Tigrayan officials have described Tsimdo as a peace and reconciliation initiative between communities. Berhanu Jula said it was part of a longer pattern of hostile alliances that cannot confront the state without outside backing.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera reported that the army command prefers a strategy of \u201cstrategic calm\u201d to a large-scale military confrontation. It said the command argued that the Tigray front\u2019s popular support is falling and its leadership is divided.<\/p>\n

Fighting has spread from Tigray into the neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions. It followed the announcement by seven armed groups of the Ethiopian Peoples\u2019 Forces Alliance for Survival, a coalition that says it wants to remove Abiy Ahmed\u2019s government. Al Jazeera said the latest battles in Afar have been around Abala, where the military has been trying to keep rebels from taking the town. In North Wollo, the army said on Thursday it had killed 272 Tigrayan fighters and wounded 260 in a counter-offensive.<\/p>\n

Addisalem Balema, a central committee member of the TPLF, told Al Jazeera the situation had become a \u201cfull war.\u201d The TPLF\u2019s Tigray Army said the federal government had launched a \u201cfull-scale offensive\u201d with infantry, mechanised units, and drones. Al Jazeera said fighting has also continued around Sama, Sekota, and Raya Alamata, with government forces reportedly closing in on Alamata.<\/p>\n

The Amhara Association of America (AAA) published an urgent update on September 26. AAA said it had learned that more than 29 high-profile Amhara prisoners of conscience face life-threatening conditions and serious health and safety concerns while in what it called illegal detention. According to information received by AAA, seven of the 29 detainees were moved to undisclosed locations after the evening of September 25.<\/p>\n

Among the seven, AAA named Dr. Wondwossen Assefa, who it said was moved from Kaliti Prison to Kilinto Prison as of September 26. AAA said he had earlier been separated from other detainees and placed in an area called \u201cZone 6,\u201d which is used for military personnel accused of serious crimes. It said he was held in a cramped cell and that his health has seriously worsened, on top of earlier health problems including chronic pain.<\/p>\n

AAA said the transfer was carried out under \u201corders from above\u201d attributed to an official it identified only as Commissioner Teklu. Advocacy groups called for an independent check on his condition, immediate medical care, and humane detention conditions. They also asked for contact with his family and lawyers, and for the authorities to explain the reason and legal basis for his transfer.<\/p>\n

Fighting has also been reported inside Amhara. In a September 26 Al Jazeera video, armed fighters from Ethiopia\u2019s Fano movement claimed to have seized more than 10 military trucks carrying ammunition, machine guns, and mortar shells in the Amhara region. Al Jazeera noted that fighting has intensified since the new alliance was formed. The figures are claims by Fano fighters and have not been confirmed by independent reporters or by the army.<\/p>\n

A September 16 Zegabi report on AAA\u2019s September 7 to 13 weekly update recorded battles and rights violations across eight Amhara zones. An earlier Zegabi report, on September 11, carried an unverified claim that Fano fighters took more than 150 federal soldiers prisoner in the Wadla-Delanta-Dawunt area of North Wollo on September 8. Shabelle Media Network first reported the claim. Shabelle noted that the claim could not be independently verified, and Zegabi reported no immediate confirmation from the army.<\/p>\n

Alemayehu Weldemariam, a professor of law at Indiana University, told Al Jazeera that the federal government bears much of the blame for the collapse of the Pretoria Agreement. He pointed to fuel, service, and cash restrictions on Tigray and to the failure to set up the interim administration the deal had promised. \u201cThis war has been in the making for a while now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jervin Naidoo, a senior political analyst at Oxford Economics Africa, told Al Jazeera that there have been consistent violations on both sides since the end of the war. He said the government would portray the TPLF as \u201ca belligerent group trying to destabilise Ethiopia,\u201d while Tigrayan leaders could present the fighting as protecting their region.<\/p>\n

Internet access was reportedly cut across northern Ethiopia on Friday, a day after the United Nations said it was alarmed by reports of drones being used against civilians, Al Jazeera reported.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n