Gun battles and mass protests have engulfed parts of Amhara, Ethiopia’s second-biggest region, after a move to centralise the regional security forces of the country’s 11 states. People from several towns in Amhara responded with protests, while some units of the region’s security forces refused to disarm and clashed with the federal military. The Amhara region’s security forces were prominent in the civil war against Tigray, fighting alongside the federal military. But some states have also built powerful security services resembling small armies that sometimes clash. The prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has vowed to push on with dismantling these regional security forces, calling them a threat to Ethiopia’s integrity.

Source: Ethiopian News April 12, 2023 05:20 UTC