The Fano leder Eskender Nega responded to the American Ambassador statement
May/22/2024
Ethiopia 24
Greetings to all.
It has been six years since the current Ethiopian regime came into power. During this time, individuals of Amhara descent have been targeted due to their ethnicity, facing discrimination, violence, displacement, and mass killings, primarily at the hands of the federal government rather than regional authorities.
Mind you, Amharas have been attacked by various ethnic based organizations on the basis of ethnicity for the past 50 years, that is, ever since the revolution in 1974, but what has changed in the past six years is the emergence of the government as a major actor in these ethnic-based attacks.
In view of the government’s involvements in these attacks, we as Amharas had no choice but to defend ourselves. We must learn from history. Only governments are capable of genocide, especially those that are ethnically charged as the Ethiopian government. We thus fight as a people against genocide in quest of our right to live, which is the foundation of all rights. That is why we insist our struggle is more than politics, though we recognize that the ultimate solution lies on politics itself.
We are also well aware that periodic negotiations are part of armed struggles, and to this end the US government is doing its best to facilitate a meeting between Fano, as representative of the Amhara people, and the Ethiopian federal government.
For this initiative to bear fruit, a pan-Amhara organization, with major Fano groups as its constituent parts, has to be established first. We need some time to complete this process. Only such an organization can speak authoritatively on behalf of Amharas.
We thank the American government, and the broader international community for that matter, for their efforts to fend off genocide in Ethiopia.
God be with all of us.
Eskinder Nega.
Amhara Fano People’s Force (AFPF)
