Adis-ababa,Ethiopia. The Abiy Ahmed administration seems to be resorting to airstrikes as the latest massive mobilization and plan to eliminate Fano forces by mid September fails.
According to an Ethiopian Media Service (EMS) report the government is planning to undertake drone strikes and airstrikes in the Amhara region against Fano forces as the latter are now in control of a considerably large portion of the Amhara region running district level administrations.
The series of mobilizations and massive military campaigns in the region appears to have rather helped the Fano force to arm themselves more by engaging Ethiopian troops through a combination of ambush attacks and conventional battles.
The support the Fano group enjoys from the people also made the Defense Force military campaign an complicated one. Apart from logistical and intelligence support from the public, tens of thousands of new recruits joined the ranks of Fanos, From video regularly circulating on social media, an open air graduation ceremony for new recruits has become very common in many small towns and districts in the region.
Earlier this week, EMS reported that there has been an evaluation within the defense force and that some military commanders (whose names are unspecified) are reportedly facing possible arrest in connection with the repeated failures of the military campaigns.
The government is planning to deploy fighter helicopters and drones targeting Fano forces. Soon after the government declared the military operation in the region, drone strikes were regularly used in the Amhara region. However, the victims were mostly civilians including civilians and children, as was documented by human rights organizations in the country and abroad.
If EMS report about planning airstrike is true, this is happening at a time when Egypt is exploiting Ethiopia’s tension with Somalia following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding to undertake a military campaign under the guise of bilateral military agreement with the government in Mogadishu. Confirmed reports from Somalia indicate that Egypt sent heavy weaponry – including anti-aircraft missiles – to Hassan Sheik’s government.
