{"id":838999,"date":"2026-11-14T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=838999"},"modified":"2026-11-14T00:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T05:30:00","slug":"residents-tell-wazema-heavy-fighting-between-government-forces-and-fano-has-closed-the-road-through-gayint-since-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/838999","title":{"rendered":"Residents tell Wazema heavy fighting between government forces and Fano has closed the road through Gayint since Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/figure>\n

An old gnarled tree under a blue sky in the Amhara region, in a photograph shared on X in December 2023 and kept in the Mereja Media album [file photo]. Credit: eugene power (@eugpower) on X, via the Mereja Media album.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fighting backed by heavy weapons has gone on since Monday between government forces and Fano forces in Gayint district of South Gondar, closing the road from Kimir Dingay to Nifas Mewcha, residents told Wazema.<\/p>\n

Wazema Radio said in its Friday news summary that it had confirmed, from information gathered from residents, that the fighting was taking place around Guasa, Welela Bahir and Sholekt in Gayint, a highland district in South Gondar zone of the Amhara region. Residents told the station that the road between the towns of Kimir Dingay and Nifas Mewcha has been closed to vehicles because of the clashes.<\/p>\n

The same residents said neither side holds the contested places for long and that control changes quickly, which matches the pattern of the war in Amhara since August 2023, where Fano forces move in and out of rural areas while the federal army and regional forces hold the main towns and roads.<\/p>\n

Accounts that support Fano forces described the same fighting in more detail, with claims Mereja Media could not verify. The account Amhara War Updates wrote on Wednesday that on November 9 government columns advancing from Kimir Dingay and Nifas Mewcha toward Welela Bahir were met by several Fano divisions, and that fighting followed in Simada, Farta and Estie districts. It said government forces suffered heavy losses and that surveillance drones were flown over large parts of South Gondar the next day. The account gave no casualty figures that could be checked.<\/p>\n

Mereja Media found no statement on the fighting from the Ethiopian National Defense Force, the Amhara regional government or the Government Communication Service by Friday evening, and no independent casualty count. The armed conflict monitor ACLED counted 130 political violence events in Amhara in October, more than double September, as Mereja Media reported<\/a> this week. Earlier, accounts on X said forces in Debre Elias were holding relatives of Fano forces members<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n