State of emergency in northern Ethiopia

People displaced by fighting in Ethiopia.
People displaced by fighting in Ethiopia.
Reuters

The security situation is spiraling in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region with reports that an Amhara militia has wrested control of several towns from federal forces.

What triggered these clashes? This violence comes just nine months after a truce came into effect in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region ending two years of bloody conflict between government forces and Tigray Defence Forces. (Despite accounting for just 7% of Ethiopia's population, Tigrayans dominated Ethiopian politics for decades until current PM Abiy Ahmed, from the Oromo ethnic group, came to power in 2018.)

After that conflict, Addis Ababa called for the dismantling of all regional forces, hoping to integrate them into the national army. But Amhara nationalists who have long felt isolated from national politics opposed the move and took up arms.

Deadly clashes between government forces and Amhara nationalists prompted the central government to declare a state of emergency in recent days, giving its forces power to conduct raids and detain people without a court order, as well as impose curfews and ban public gatherings. Meanwhile, Amhara fighters have reportedly looted government offices and raided prisons.

Ethiopia, ruled by a military junta until 1991, is deeply fragmented and made up of more than 90 ethnic groups, many of whom have traditionally felt excluded from political power.

As Africa’s second-most populous country, instability in Ethiopia can have a destabilizing impact on the entire Horn of Africa. That’s what happened in Tigray in recent years, with hundreds of thousands of refugees forced to flee to neighboring countries.

The US, for its part, has warned Abiy to get hold of the situation before things deteriorate further. But in a country rife with ethnic strife, it seems more likely that the situation in Amhara will worsen in the near term.

More from GZERO Media

A combination photo shows a person of interest in the fatal shooting of U.S. right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S. shown in security footage released by the Utah Department of Public Safety on September 11, 2025.
Utah Department of Public Safety/Handout via REUTERS
A drone view shows the scene where U.S. right-wing activist, commentator, Charlie Kirk, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah, U.S. September 11, 2025.
REUTERS/Cheney Orr

The assassination of 31-year old conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a college event in Utah yesterday threatened to plunge a deeply divided America further into a cycle of rising political violence.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro stands next to members of the armed forces, on the day he says that his country would deploy military, police and civilian defenses at 284 "battlefront" locations across the country, amid heightened tensions with the U.S., in La Guaira, Venezuela, September 11, 2025.
Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

284: Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro has deployed military assets to 284 “battlefront” locations across the country, amid rising tensions with the US.

A member of Nepal army stands guard as people gather to observe rituals during the final day of Indra Jatra festival to worship Indra, Kumari and other deities and to mark the end of monsoon season.
REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar

Nepal’s “Gen-Z” protest movement has looked to a different generation entirely with their pick for an interim leader. Protest leaders say they want the country’s retired chief justice, Sushila Karki, 73, to head a transitional government.