{"id":839041,"date":"2026-11-15T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-15T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?p=839041"},"modified":"2026-11-15T00:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-15T05:30:00","slug":"gondar-fano-commander-mesafint-tesfu-breaks-with-zemene-kassie-and-announces-a-new-group-over-the-alliance-with-the-tplf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/839041","title":{"rendered":"Gondar Fano commander Mesafint Tesfu breaks with Zemene Kassie and announces a new group over the alliance with the TPLF"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/figure>\n

Fano commander Mesafint Tesfu, right, during the interview in which he denounced the Amhara Fano National Movement leadership, in a still from a clip shared on X on November 14, 2026. Credit: Still from Global Fano Media, shared by Habtish Gurmu (@Habtishgreat) on X.<\/em><\/p>\n

A veteran Fano commander from Gondar, Mesafint Tesfu, has denounced the leader of the Amhara Fano National Movement as a traitor and announced a new Fano organization, in an interview shared widely on X.<\/p>\n

In an interview released on Friday and shared widely on X, Mesafint, a former army major who is called Arbegna, or patriot, by his followers, accused movement chairman Zemene Kassie of betraying the Amhara people by working with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Eritrean government, which many Amhara activists call Shabia. He said he would rather die than work with them, according to a summary posted in Amharic by the commentator Habtish Gurmu, whose clip carries part of the interview.<\/p>\n

Mesafint also gave Zemene and his fighters what supporters described as an ultimatum, telling them to reject the arrangement known as Tsimdo, the alliance between the movement and the TPLF, and join his new organization or face war. “The Amhara Fano National Movement has officially split into two factions,” Habtish Gurmu wrote, a description the movement has not confirmed. Mereja Media found no response from the movement or from Zemene by Saturday evening.<\/p>\n

Reaction among Fano supporters online was divided. One account wrote that Fano fighters and their supporters were splitting in two and that many backed Mesafint, saying Zemene “has sold us.” Another user mocked the commander as a militiaman and quoted him promising to “discipline” Egypt and to bring Ethiopia a sea outlet with his new organization. Neither claim about the size of his following could be checked.<\/p>\n

The dispute goes back to September 20, when the movement joined the TPLF and other armed groups in a coalition called the Alliance for Survival, which Zemene chairs. The conflict monitor ACLED has recorded clashes on September 26 and 27 near Wegeda in South Gondar between the movement and the Fano Belay Zeleke Command, which rejected the alliance, and it counted 130 political violence events in Amhara in October, as Mereja Media reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h4>\n