Armed members of Fano. PictureL Fano Amhara Addis Abeba: Amhara State Government Communication Bureau Head, Gizatchew Muluneh, told the Ethiopian Press Agency that the government “will organize” and “not disarm” Fano members who have paid scarifies for the survival of the country and people’s freedom.
Gizatchew Muluneh said that in the history of the Amhara people, the Fano protect the Amhara “from the enemy and humiliations” as well as pay scarifies for the Amhara people to benefit fron development and political areas. Therefore, the government “will further organize” the Fano and “will not disarm them.”
The Fano are armed group of thousands of young men and women in Amhara regional state who are not a part of the regular structure in both the federal and state security apparatus but have been on the side of the federal and regional forces in the ongoing armed conflict with Tigrayan forces.
Gizachew said that the Fano have made great strides in thwarting the military attack by Tigrayan forces in Amhara regional state and have paid the price with their lives. The government recognizes and rewards those individuals, and has no reason to disarm them, he said further explaining that the government’s intention was not to disarm the Fano, but to help those who sustained hurt while fighting for their country in a manner accorded to other security forces.
His statement came in the wake of a widely circulated document allegedly prepared by the federal government detailing post-war security challenges facing different regional states including Amhara region. The document discusses the challenges of privatization of arms among civilians and irregular armed groups especially the Fano. Authorities in Amhara region have since distanced the region from the document.
Gizachew further said that in addition to repelling enemy forces, Fano is an armed group that, in the event of a disaster in the region, will coordinate with other government security forces in the same manner as any other security forces to mitigate disasters. In times of peace, those who are farmers will farm, these who come from business backgrounds will return to do normal business, he said, adding at times of peace, most of the Fano members are at work. In the event that there are Fano members without jobs, the government will create ways in which they will be made to engage in works. “Fano respects law and order and pays sacrifices for the benefit of the people of Amhara,” according to Gizachew.
The regional government would enforce the rule of law in accordance with the laws in the region. If there are unruly forces involved in looting and other acts of violence, they will be held to account, Gizachew said and assured that Fano is not a force beyond the control of the government and will be judged under the government like any other community. Anyone who deviates from this should not be called by the name of Fano, the state media quoted Gizachew as saying.
However, he indicated that the regional government, starting from its political leadership, has interested to organized in an orderly manner the use of force and what to do in the event of something happening involving arms. To this end he emphasized that the attempt was not related to disarmament but a process that looks into the orderly administration of arms in the region. He criticized the use of social media to disseminate untraceable confusion to divide the people, sow hate among each other, and create uncertainties to weakening the people of Amhara. He also said that the public should only take information from the right sources without paying attention to these forces.
AS
When I see photos of young people in drills training them how to fight/attack and kill I see militarism. I had seen similar photos from Oromia, other regions and the mother of all drills and parades from Tigray. In a way it has become unsettling to me. I see signs of giving up hope for peace. I see war and only war becoming the go-to utensil in the kitchens of diplomacy. I see violence continue to be the romance of the days and years over there. I see peace is increasing getting out of the reach of the arms of the peace mongering people of that country. Those upright people are now denied the chance to see their teenager kids coming back from school every afternoon but are on a lookout for their baby boys and daughters coming back to them in body bags. That is if they are lucky. They may never hear back from them or what became of them. This reminds me a story of a mother from the capital. One of my merchant relatives who have a shop in the capital was the one who told me about her. She used to frequent his shop to pick up necessities two or three times a week. He told me she was always in black dress worn by grieving parents and loved ones. She was a mother of two daughters and one son. Her son was called up for military service during the 1998-2000 Ethio-Eritrean war. He never came back. She was just told he had sacrificed himself for the country he loved. Nobody told how he died and where he was buried. She donned the black dress everyday for more than a decade until she passed away recently. In that senseless war more than 100,000 young people were said to have perished. Due to the then military planners of the Ethiopia the main tactic was frontal using waves of human masses to overwhelm the well trenched Eritrean soldiers. It might have worked but out of the 100,000 dead 70,000 were on the Ethiopian side. That was based on Mao’s military school of thoughts. The same plan I see it now being concocted. I see the same scenario on the battlefront now. Debre is not sitting idle. Since the federal government and its solders are out of the way he has been digging in possibly turning the entire Tigray region into foxholes and miles long trenches given its favorable topography. Talking about a recipe for Allah Blessed human blood flowing like a raging flood. Woe! Woe! Woe!!!!