Ethiopia’s Amhara region pleads for help with violent unrest after attempt to disarm local fighters

By CARA ANNA
Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Authorities in Ethiopia’s Amhara region have asked the federal government for help as a local ethnic militia clashes with federal security forces. Flights to key cities have been halted. The deputy prime minister calls the situation “increasingly grave.” Ethiopia’s second most populous region has been gripped by instability since April. That’s when federal authorities disarmed the Amhara regional force as part of the recovery from a two-year conflict in the neighboring Tigray region. Authorities last year also tried to dismantle the Amhara militia known as Fano. Many Amhara accuse the federal government of trying to undermine their region, which federal officials reject.