Former journalist and politician Esknder Nega, who is said to be one of the leaders of the Fano militant group, said that no decision has been reached yet to negotiate with the government.
Esknder Nega in an interview with BBC Focus on Africa; “We have not reached a decision yet,” he said, regarding the possibility of dialogue with the government to resolve the conflict in the Amhara region through dialogue. “There are many Fano groups fighting with the government. “Each group is independent,” said Esknder. He said efforts are being made to unite the various Fano groups operating in the region.
“At the moment we are talking about unity. After this process is completed, a decision can be reached through negotiations with the government.”
After saying that “negotiation is acceptable in principle”, he mentioned the experience in Africa and said that we have seen warring forces return to negotiations after many human massacres and destruction of property “For us, war is the last resort. “It is the government that started this war by killing and displacing many,” he accused. It has been a few years since Esknder Nega left the political party he was leading and started fighting with the government.
Esknder chose the struggle of narcissism instead of a peaceful political struggle because “hundreds of thousands of Amharas were killed because of their identity; “Millions of them were forcibly displaced from their homes.”
Esknder said that “80 or 90 percent of the Amhara area is currently under the control of Fano’s forces”. They say that the main effort of the government forces is to control and manage the major cities in the region. Esknder reminded that there is a huge humanitarian crisis in the Amhara region. They said that they are willing for international humanitarian organizations to do humanitarian work in the areas controlled by the Fano forces.
During the war in northern Ethiopia and after the conflict in the Amhara region, there have been many human rights violations committed by the region, the government and the armed forces.
A few months ago, the international human rights defender, Human Rights Watch, submitted a request to the United Nations Organization for an independent investigation into the alleged human rights violations in the Amhara region.
Esknder Nega stated that they will accept the human rights defender’s request positively. They expressed their support for an independent investigation.
“If there is a need to stop the war in the Amhara region, the government must stop killing us because of who we are. Hundreds of thousands of Amharas were killed because of their identity. The genocidal campaign against the people must be stopped. A radical change must be made. The constitution needs to be reformed,”
