{"id":838672,"date":"2026-11-02T00:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838672"},"modified":"2026-11-02T00:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T05:20:00","slug":"fano-says-its-fighters-entered-wuchale-north-of-dessie-as-clashes-are-reported-near-dima-giorgis-in-east-gojjam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838672","title":{"rendered":"Fano says its fighters entered Wuchale north of Dessie as clashes are reported near Dima Giorgis in East Gojjam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fano fighters entered the town of Wuchale, north of Dessie in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, on Saturday, Fano media and monitoring accounts said in unconfirmed claims, while another Fano account reported deadly clashes in East Gojjam.<\/p>\n

Tana TV, a satellite channel, led its Sunday morning news with the headline that Fano had entered Wuchale, that the main road had been closed and that heavy fighting was going on in the Ambassel mountains. The channel posted the bulletin on its X account, @TanaTvOfficial, at 9:30 AM Eastern Time on November 1. Sahel Monitor (@sahelmonitor), an account that tracks conflicts in Africa, wrote on the same morning that Fano, which it described as a member of the Tsimdo coalition, captured Wuchale on October 31, and it published a map with the town’s coordinates.<\/p>\n

Wuchale sits on the main highway that runs north from Dessie and Hayk toward Woldia, the road that federal forces use to move troops and supplies toward the war in Tigray. If the road is closed for long, it would cut one of the government’s main links between central Ethiopia and the northern front. A conflict mapping account, @Majakovsk73, wrote on Sunday that Fano was taking advantage of the army’s commitments in the north, and said Fano offensives were continuing in South Gondar as well as in Wollo, where it said the group had taken Wuchale and probably another town nearby.<\/p>\n

Neither the federal government nor the Amhara regional administration has commented on the claims. Mereja Media sent questions on Sunday to Ethiopia’s Government Communication Service asking whether Fano fighters entered Wuchale, whether the government controls the town and the road, and whether federal soldiers were killed in East Gojjam. No reply had been received at the time of publication. Mereja Media could not independently confirm any of the accounts, and phone and internet links in parts of Amhara have been unreliable for months.<\/p>\n

In East Gojjam, the account @neby_G wrote on Saturday afternoon that fighters of the Amhara Fano National Movement’s Tewodros II Command, from its 20th Corps and 64th Belay Zeleke Division, fought federal units that were advancing toward the historic Dima Giorgis monastery in Enemay district on October 31. According to the post, the federal force came from the army’s 6th Command, which is stationed between Debre Markos and Mota, and moved at night toward Dima, Borbor and Kidisgie with artillery, a rocket launcher, anti aircraft guns and heavy machine guns.<\/p>\n

The post said a federal battalion commander, his escorts and several other soldiers were killed, and that an unknown number were wounded. It said Fano fighters seized seven Kalashnikov rifles, a sniper scope, a radio and other equipment, and it was published with photos of armed men and of captured rifles laid out on the ground. An earlier YouTube bulletin from an Amhara outlet, shared on X by @masada2025 on Saturday evening, carried the headline that Fano had entered Dima town. The army has not given its own account of the fighting in Enemay.<\/p>\n

Other Fano units also claimed gains on Sunday. A post shared by @Geteriew1 said units of the Amhara Fano National Movement’s Menelik First Command and its 13th Corps had won a major victory over government forces on what the group calls its eastern front, without giving details that could be checked. On Saturday, the weapons researcher account War Noir (@war_noir) shared a video of Amhara Fano National Movement fighters gathered in South Wollo, many of them carrying old rifles, including Mannlicher and Lee Enfield guns that date back many decades.<\/p>\n

The fighting in Amhara began in August 2023, when the federal government moved to disarm regional forces and Fano forces rose against it. Since war resumed in Tigray this year, the federal army has been fighting on several fronts at once, and Fano commanders have repeatedly said they would use that moment to push into towns and main roads. Residents of Wag Hemra, in the north of the region, told DW Amharic last week that people had begun dying of hunger as drought and years of war left families without grain or aid.<\/p>\n

The Amhara regional government has in the past dismissed Fano claims of captured towns as propaganda, and the federal government says its forces control the region’s main cities. Tana TV said in its Sunday bulletin that the main road at Wuchale remained closed, and travelers on the route north of Dessie will be among the first to learn whether the claim holds.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n