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Washington, D.C. — Thousands gathered outside the White House on Saturday, rallying against Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's administration for what they described as a violent crackdown on the Amhara population. Waving Ethiopian flags and holding signs that read "Stop the War on Amhara" and "End the Drone Attacks," demonstrators called on the United States and other international powers to intervene in the escalating crisis. Protesters highlighted that Abiy’s government has used heavy artillery, including drone strikes, to target civilians in the Amhara region. The rally featured emotional speeches by activists, including Haile Tadle and Hermela Mesfin, both members of the Ethiopian diaspora advocating for their community. Haile Tadle, speaking to the crowd, emphasized the severity of the violence, stating, “Our people are facing attacks from the skies and on the ground; we cannot remain silent as they suffer.” He appealed to American and global leaders to recognize the systematic nature of these attacks on civilians, insisting that this crisis demands immediate international attention. Hermela Mesfin, another speaker at the rally, shared her deep concern over the targeting of innocent civilians. Hermela highlighted how drone strikes and arbitrary detentions have instilled widespread fear among Amhara families, calling on the United States to leverage its influence in pushing for an end to the violence. Hermela passionately argued, “This is not a war against combatants—this is a war against our families, our communities. The international community needs to see these atrocities for what they are.” These concerns align with recent reports by Amnesty International, which condemned the Ethiopian government’s month-long campaign of arbitrary detentions and military assaults in the Amhara region. Thousands of Amhara civilians have reportedly been detained without charges, and civilian casualties from aerial and ground assaults are mounting. BBC Amharic and VOA Amharic have shared reports of drone strikes targeting civilian areas, underscoring the indiscriminate nature of the violence. This rally in Washington was part of a global day of action, with coordinated protests in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and other cities. Across these events, members of the Ethiopian diaspora and supporters of human rights raised their voices, demanding accountability and urging global leaders to condemn what they described as an “unprecedented assault” on Amhara communities. Amhara Diaspora, Frankfurt, Germany “We’re here because our voices need to be heard,” said Alemayehu Bekele, a protest organizer in Washington. “The world needs to know about the atrocities being committed by Abiy’s administration against the Amhara people.” Protesters urged U.S. and other international officials to press for an immediate ceasefire and a neutral investigation into the reported abuses. They argued that international financial and diplomatic support for Ethiopia should be contingent upon respect for human rights and cessation of violence against civilians. The worldwide rallies reflect a growing movement among the Ethiopian diaspora to bring international attention to the crisis in Amhara, with organizers promising to keep up the pressure until meaningful action is taken. Washington DC Sources: Citations Amnesty International. (2024, November). Ethiopia: End the month-long arbitrary detention of thousands in Amhara region. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/11/ethiopia-end-the-month-long-arbitrary-detention-of-thousands-in-amhara-region/ BBC Amharic. (2024, November). Drone attacks in the Amhara region increase civilian casualties. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/amharic/articles/czd5yz0pq39o VOA Amharic. (2024, November). Ethiopia’s drone assaults: Amhara civilians under attack. Retrieved from https://amharic.voanews.com/a/7849006.html?utm_campaign=Ethiopia&utm_source=VOA&utm_medium=X&utm_content=SB6lg7nnfmoi3s63mpw5p5tpehu2pttjtd2zs&s=09

November 30, 2023 The Amhara Society Network (ASN) strongly condemns drone strikes targeting civilians and expresses its disappointment about the silence of the International Community in the face of the tragedy on the Amhara people in Ethiopia. It is with great sorrow and outrage that we bring to the world's attention the ongoing atrocities being committed by the Oromo regime in Addis Ababa against the Amhara people. As the world's attention continues to be focused on the events in the Middle East, the regime has been relentlessly bombarding civilians with drones purchased with funds that could have been used to avert the famine-related deaths in Ethiopia. Marketplaces, schools, religious institutions and busy town squares have been bombarded in an action that amounts to war crimes. In this week alone, more than 25 drone strikes have been committed, resulting in the death of hundreds of civilians, including teachers and students who perished when schools were bombarded in the North Showa Zone. On 29 November 2023, a drone strike in a place called Lasta woreda of Northern Wollo zone has callously killed more than 118 civilians. On 30 November 2023 an Ambulance with a patient and five physicians was stricken by a drone in South Wollo Zone of Amhara resulting in a cruel demise of all its occupants. These actions are big indicators how the strikes have broadened their scale and intensity as the regime forces continue incurring huge losses in the battle against Fano. It is our conviction that the international community's silence in the face of this tragedy has greatly emboldened the fascist Oromo regime, leading to an escalation in war crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore, we urge immediate action be taken by the international community to stop the deadly strikes and to hold Abiy Ahmed Ali accountable for the hate-based crimes being committed against the Amhara people. We urge the international community to fulfill its duty by condemning this genocidal war waged on the Amhara civilians and doing its part to bring the perpetrators into account. The world cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the plight of innocent Amhara civilians in Ethiopia. Last but not least, while we strongly condemn the cruel massacre of innocent civilians in drone strikes and ask the international community to play its mandated role in standing for humanity, we would like to make it clear to the world that Amhara's’ fight against Oromo Prosperity fascism shall not be deterred by the cruelty and savagery the regime is exhibiting against innocent Amhara women, children, and civilians. The world should remember that turning a blind eye to the pains of Amhara's and minimizing a full-scale genocidal war on Amhara to communal violence would have dire consequences to peace and stability in the already fragile Horn of Africa.

By: Solomon A Date: October 17, 2022 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Amhara students were denied the national exam by the Abiy Ahmed administration. The Amhara region was devastated by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) aggression in the last two years. Also, the region becomes a battleground; families, and most importantly, students have suffered the most. The following three reasons portray why 12,787 students were forced to leave testing centers situated in Debre Tabor, Debre Markos, Mekdela Amba, and Bahir Dar. First, the prosperity administration deployed a huge number of federal forces in the respected universities to intimidate and confuse students. Secondly, the federal government brought cadres within the vicinities of these universities to create turmoil and spread disinformation easily. Thirdly, the federal and the regional government show no interest to control the situation and instead created widespread agitation to other institutions. Amhara students are not new to the institutional discriminatory measure the federal government. According to the Ethiopian federal news outlet, FANA, there was a report on Sep 13, 2021, in reference to the Education Bureau Head, Getachew Biazin, “the terrorist TPLF has fully destroyed 260 schools in Amhara Regional State. Furthermore, 2,511 have been also partly destroyed because of the attacks of the terrorist element that targeted civilians in the region. Schools destroyed had the capacity to host over 1 million learners prior to the attacks by the terrorist agent, TPLF.” The federal government of Ethiopia shows little to no effort in restoring such big infrastructure damage for what the Amhara Regional Education Bureau requested. On top of these distractions, the Federal Ministry of Education deliberately targeted Amhara students during their senior year exams. Audio 1: VOA Amharic interview As VOA Amharic service spoke with students and the ministry of education authorities, irregularities in exam grading are acknowledged and more than 20, 000 complaints received especially from Amhara and Afar regions. In relation to the grading problem Institute Of The Ombudsman (የሕዝብ ዕንባ ጠባቂ ተቋም) threatens to take the agency to parliament over grade 12 result. However, the Federal examination agency did little effort to respond to the requests. In addition, the North Wollo Zone Education Department examiner and administration expert, Mulu Adane, said that the zone has been in a state of war for more than five months and students in the region were still not fully prepared to sit for the exams. Therefore, the Amhara Regional Education Bureau head questioned the grading system conducted at the federal level. Even if the head had requested a clarification, Mr. Brehanu Nega, the Minister of Education, had no interest in looking at the situation. Despite his own Deputy Director General of Exams Services, Tefera Feyisa, had even admitted that there were technical problems during the evaluation of the examination. The first action the Prosperity Party administrations did was to position a gigantic number of federal forces in the respected universities. The presence of heavily armed federal security forces demonstrates that the Department of Education is weak in pursuing and leading the learning process effectively. Secondly, it mounts tremendous pressure on the well-being of students by creating a harrowing environment on school grounds. In fact, most students came from families impacted by war in one way or another. Students show resilience to all these hardships hoping that education is a bridge from misery to light. Students who lost their parents in the ongoing conflict with TPLF feel a higher level of fear when they see troops on the school compound. Therefore, the school shouldn't look like a war zone but instead a place where students relish peace and safety. In addition, the current ruling party copied the same tactic from the former architect of chaos, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). This includes infiltrating the school system through paid cadres such as prosperity party fanatic educators aligning themselves in their criminal deeds. This verifies that this exam session is a great opportunity to trigger students and create turmoil. Thirdly, the federal government controls telecommunication and social media propagandists allowing misinformation to spread and reach the level that students are misguided enough to quit their exams. In the aftermath of the incident in the Debre Tabor, Debre Markos, Mekdela Amba, and Bahir Dar exam centers, the Federal Ministry of Education's action itself speaks volumes. In his statement, Brehanu Nega asserted that students who left the exam will not be allowed to take it again. This includes 7,150 students from Debre Tabor University, 2,711 students from Bahir Dar University, 1700 students from Mekdela Amba University at Mekane Selam Campus, and 1,226 students from Debre Markos University, totaling up to 12,787 students. In conclusion, the Ethiopian federal government should have known better; schools are not an ideal place to stage a political game. As Malcolm X said, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” The same applies to Amhara students; what options would they have on the table other than those schools? Education is a bridge for the majority of Amhara students who come across different life challenges throughout their learning process. Especially, raising kids and sending them to school in the current economy is difficult since students entirely depend on countless poor parents. Taking the 12th-grade exam is used as a catalyst to pull families and communities out of the cycle of poverty. Therefore, those 12,787 students who missed the exam should be allowed to retake it. One thing the federal government of Ethiopia has to understand is that students' central goal is getting a good education. Finally, forcing all of those students to drop out from a probable future academic career is a crime against students and communities. As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” So, let them have the opportunity to change their life, their communities, and the world. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ASN or its affiliates.

Date: November 9-10, 2020 1, 515 Amhara's killed Who committed the genocide - Tigray People Liberation Front supporters, in coordination from Tigray local security forces indiscriminately massacre ethnic Amhara's. The government-appointed independent body, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it had found that the killings were carried out by a local youth group called Samri, with the support of other Tigrayan civilians, police and militia. Map 1: Mai- Kadra town, Wolekait, North Gondar Video 1: Testimonies of Mai- Kadra Massacre See below names of Amharas killed in the town of Mai- Kadra by Tigrayan mercenary youth called, Samri. Sources: Amhara Associations of America, Reuters English, EHRC and Aljezera English.

This pogrom has been principally catastrophic. Local Oromo residents and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) surrounded our villages from all directions. They carried out the racial killing in the villages relentlessly for eight consecutive hours. I witnessed two Amhara peasants named Ahmed Sherif and Ahmed Ali get shot dead cruelly with a heavy weapon called Dishqa from a distance. My family members together with six other individuals were murdered with close range gunshots in an empty room located near my house. Their corpses were then inhumanely mutilated using machetes. Twelve innocent civilian ethnic Amharas were burnt to death inside a house located in the center of Gutin Sefer. Fifty-Five other people, residents of Silsaw village were mass slaughtered at once in a jungle located in Chefie village. Among the dead only two were adult men whereas the remaining fifty-three were children and women. Forty-Eight other Amharas were also blood bathed at the backyard of Jafar Mosque found in Silsaw Village where they were hiding to escape the massacre. With this disregard for the mosque and human life however, the killers turned a sacred place into a mass homicidal playground. It was the local Oromo vigilant youths who showed shortcut paths to and from the villages to the OLA militias, cutting the last breath of suspected gunfire survivors using machetes, demolishing, and robbing the properties of the Amharas. I identified thirty-one people who were slaughtered in mass from Ahmed Yusuf’s family alone: comprising his children and grandchildren. Another individual whom I cannot name right now has also lost his twelve family members. On the other hand, the entire family members of Ahmed Sherif (Man who got shot dead using Dishqa) who were seven in number were annihilated altogether. Accordingly, we have buried four hundred fifty dead bodies thus far all over the villages. I even anticipate more dead bodies will be found in the jungle and other areas where we have not yet visited. I have never suspected such genocide to happen on us in my lifetime. The killers were acting by far as wild animals. I do not think they belong to the human race. Even wild animals like the Hyenas do not kill human beings in a way the OLAs did. I am more than certain if they were to come back again, they would kill all of us who survived by miracle. There is nothing remaining that attaches and connects me to live together anymore. I only need the responsible body to get me and the other survivors out and let us live in our parents’ land in Wollo, Amhara Region. Please help us get relocated before we totally vanish, and our race (Amhara) gets exterminated without a new generation to replace and continue after me. Please, please, please.” For more detail, refer Amhara Association of America (amharaamerica.org)

The Amhara people are a Semitic-speaking people who inhabit modern-day Ethiopia. The language of the Amhara people, Amharic, is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic and has served as Ethiopia’s official language since the 13th century AD. The Amhara people have inhabited the Ethiopian plateau for thousands of years. Descendants of Axumites, Amhara's are considered cultural and political heirs of the ancient Axumite Empire. The Amhara people, along with related Ethiopian ethnic groups, are historically known as the Abyssinians. Amhara kids on the side of Blue Nile, Ethiopia The Solomonic dynasty, which hailed from Amhara in the medieval era, was the longest-surviving dynasty in the world until 1974. The restorer of the Solomonic dynasty, Yekuno Amlak, who reigned in 1270, hailed from the old province of Amhara. The Amhara culture and civilization are one of the greatest human achievements in the world with fascinating historical rock-hewn monuments, unique iconography, palaces and edifices, literature, music, and preserved Biblical practices dating to the First Temple period of Judea. The most important book relating the origin of the people is known as the Kebra Nagast, and it recounts the tale of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. According to the Kebra Nagast, the Queen of Sheba gave birth to Menelik I, the first King of Ethiopia’s Solomonic dynasty, from King Solomon, after conceiving the child during her visit in Judea. Recent scientific research on the genetics of Ethiopians has supported the claim of the Kebra Nagast, with the discovery of evidence of gene flow into the Ethiopian plateau from the Levant (modern-day Israel and Syria regions) 3,000 years. Lij Tedla Melaku Worede

The June 18 Genocide on Amharas' was programmed, authorized, and reinforced by authorities of Oromiya Regional State and federal government. Primarily, the militias of the Kebele who were in charge of keeping the security of the area left the place some days prior to the heinous genocidal attack. Then, open the door to militants of Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) to do the dirty work without any challenge. An eyewitness spoke that, the Gimbi Woreda Administration (where Tole Kebele is located) had been informed in advance that OLA militias had surrounded the kebele. To the contrary, the concerned body of the woreda administration transferred stationed armed forces to a place called Dedesa camp while leaving the Amhara dwellers unprotected. Meanwhile, there were also concerning evidence that show possible synchronization and conflict of interest flanked by government officials and OLA. For instance, an OLA member Gemechu Ometa is a son of Nigatu Ometa who is the Kebele Administrator. There is also a brotherhood relationship between Abebe Wakoya who is an OLA member and Kidanu Wakoya the Kebele’s security head. These people including the head of government militia office in Tole Kebele left behind the area 3 days ahead of the racial killing. Second, at the time when the massacre was actively underway, the coverage of telecommunication outlets including phone and internet in the area was totally blackout (take into account that Ethio Telecom which is the service provider of national telecommunications, is possessed and ran by the federal government), successfully denying victims any means to alert the entire world regarding their plight. Photograph of bodies belonging to members of a single family who were killed in the massacre. Names of the victims were as follows: Seyd Dawid (aged 11) (left), Sheikh Dawid Indris (middle), Mohammed Dawid (right). Sources: https://www.amharaamerica.org Thirdly, the members of Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and Oromia Special Force (aka Oromiya Liyu Hayil) were not deployed during the course of the 9-hour long racial killing. However, when these forces returned back to the area after the successful massacre happened, they threatened survivor individuals not to record the mass slaughtered dead bodies, the funeral process as well as the mass graves for the reason that the genocide could potentially bring outrage against the local and federal governments. This latest state sponsored massacre managed by the OLA has been happening side by side to the huge crackdown named “law enforcement operation” against Amharas (particularly to demolish Fano groups). The operation has been led by the coordination of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed His Oromo Prosperity Party (OPP) and The Amhara Regional Government [Amhara Prosperity Party (APP)] As a result, the government acknowledged to the detention of more than twelve thousand Amharas starting from mid-May 2022. Those detained comprise Over 20 journalists from mainstream and social medias 62 opposition political party members Lawyers University professors and Current/ex-government officials All of the above-mentioned detainees were critical of the Prosperity Party and the government. Moreover, they have been well known to opposing the intermittent massacres that has been systematical made against Amharas. On several occasions, it has been observed that family members of missed targets were also kidnaped to lure out the targets. Accordingly, more than thirty peaceful protesters were murdered by government security forces only in May 2022 in different parts of Amhara Region. Irritated by the intermittent and coordinated crackdown operations on dissenting voices and genocides, Ethiopians in general and the Amhara community in particular are requesting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to step down and leave office. Furthermore, they demand an independent international inquiry to be carried out into the continuing state-sponsored genocide against ethnic Amharas' in different parts of Oromiya.

Lij Tedla Melaku Worede Articles in biased international newspapers have accused the Amhara Fano militia of committing massacres of ethnic others. Fano’s description on Wikipedia has also become a subject of controversy where arbitrary and dishonest descriptions of Fano painting it as a genocidal group have aroused controversy and fury as the Wikipedia page was locked to prevent any corrections or editing. The Wikipedia article, rather than fairly and justly explaining the history, ideology, and contexts of Fano’s struggle, focuses on criminalizing the group in what seems to build a case to globally defame and neutralize it, associating it with massacres that were committed by opposing forces. For example, in the Wikipedia article, Fano is described as having been accused of the Mai Kadra Massacre. The article itself admits that the Mai Kadra massacre was committed by TPLF’s Tigrayan forces — who invaded the Amhara region and occupied it for months while committing rapes, massacres, and atrocities — and cites sources accusing local Tigrayan forces of targeting and massacring Amhara civilians. The statement in the article that the Fano militia is accused of participating in the Mai Kadra massacre is baseless, lacking any source, and intended to shift the blame and attention from the Tigrayan forces that committed the massacre. What’s even more baffling is that the TDF (Tigrayan Defense Force) on Wikipedia, though having committed atrocities in Amhara, is described as a heroic freedom fighter without any mention of its crimes against humanity, which Fano was mobilized to resist and protect Amhara civilians from. In that same (Wikipedia) article, Fano is accused of committing massacres on the Qemant ethnic group. But the context and reality were that there was, and still is, an armed group known as the Qemant Committee based in the Amhara region and allied to the TPLF and OLF (anti-Amhara armed ethnic organizations) that declared its struggle for freedom with a vision to create a Qemant ethnic state by dissolving the Amhara region and thus committing violent attacks and atrocities on ethnic Amharas. The Fano Amhara militia engaged in armed struggle against the Qemant Committee to resist the atrocious crimes that were committed, with TPLF’s assistance, on Amhara people in the region. The Wikipedia article and other publications have falsely–and intently–mispresented Fano’s resistance for its own survival as a massacre of ethnic Qemants committed by Fano. Other similar events have also been misconstrued to make believe that Fano is a genocidal ethnic militia force that commits atrocities on ethnic others. The history of Fano has also been intently distorted and misrepresented. Wikipedia states that Fano was created or birthed in the 2010s. But the truth is that Fano signifies Ethiopia’s historical popular force, the same popular force that successfully resisted and defeated the Italian colonial forces at Adwa in 1896, and Mussolini’s Fascist Italian forces in the 1930s. The Amhara people urgently appeal that international media and newspapers make the necessary amends and correct course to clear Fano’s name of the worldwide defamation campaigns against it propagated by TPLF and OLF sympathizers. Wikipedia must also remove content falsely accusing Fano of massacres and make the necessary corrections. Lij Tedla Melaku Worede (of የኢትዮጵያ ዘውዳዊ ጉባኤ – Ethiopian Royal Congress)