Over 100 reportedly arrested in Gurage in connection with Fano Movement
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Abeshge , Guraghe zone (Photo : PD)
Over 100 people are reportedly arrested in Abeshge district of Gurage zone of South Ethiopia in connection with the Fano movement. They are arrested on alleged grounds of “terrorism.” Many others have fled the area to avoid arrest.
According to a BBC Amharic report published on Tuesday, massive arrests started to take place in June this year.
About 90 of them have reportedly appeared at Wolkite court after twenty-two days of arrest.
The arrest mainly focused on ethnic Amharas. There are also reports of beating and harassment against those who are allegedly identified as suspects of “fano supporters.”
About sixteen kebeles in Abshege district of Gurage zone, ethnic Amharas live in large numbers. The district has a total of thirty kebeles.
BBC Amharic cited family members of those arrested from Walga Kebele of the district, which is said to be only 30 kilometers from Wolkite, ethnic Amharas were arrested because of their identity.
Peace and security office authorities in the Gurage zone claim that those arrested are suspected of “firearms circulation and kidnapping.”
Ethnic Amhara’s in the area have been under pressure to disarm registered firearms after the outbreak of the war between the Federal government and Fano forces in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
“What they call Fano is any Amhara who is carrying a firearm,” a resident told BBC Amharic emphasizing that the arrest is ethnic based.
Members of the farming community in the area were armed with license from the government due to a security threat from a militant Oromo ethnic nationalist group that calls itself “Oromo Liberation Army” which is linked to the massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Amharas in Oromia region.
According to residents in the area who spoke to the source, there had been arrests before June this year but it got worse since then.
The reports seem to align with stories ethnic Amhara arbitrary arrest in many areas of Oromia region and in the capital Addis Ababa after the official outbreak of the war in August 2023
Source: Borkena.com
