The National Movement of Amhara (NAMA) has issued a statement accusing state authorities and allied armed groups of carrying out a coordinated campaign of targeted violence, mass arrests, and demographic engineering against ethnic Amharas across central and western region border zones.
According to NAMA, the longstanding criminalization of the Amhara community, previously carried out under labels such as "Neftenya", has now been rebranded under the guise of combating "Fano." The political party stated that this shift in narrative is being used to rationalize structural oppression, property confiscation, and arbitrary detentions in regions including the Gurage Zone’s Abeshge Woreda, Wolkite, and adjacent zones in the Oromia Region.
NAMA’s assessment highlights severe security and human rights breakdowns in areas such as West Shewa, South West Shewa, and Jimma zones. The party reports that local administrative structures and armed groups have disarmed civilian self-defense formations, leaving communities vulnerable to attacks by militant groups like OLF-Shene. Specific incidents cited include coordinated assaults in the Ameya Woreda, resulting in the deaths of dozens of civilians, including pregnant women, children, and monks at a local church.
The statement further outlined widespread arbitrary detentions, asserting that over 1,000 Amhara civilians have been held without court orders in public halls in Wolkite and detention facilities in Walga since July 2024. NAMA emphasized that these mass arrests were timed during the critical farming season, severely disrupting agricultural livelihoods, restricting transport, and inducing local economic distress through extortion.
Beyond physical displacement, NAMA warned of an active "demographic engineering" effort aimed at forcefully altering regional administrative boundaries, particularly around Abeshge Woreda. The party claimed that land belonging to displaced Amhara families is being redistributed to local officials and affiliated investors, accompanied by a targeted social media campaign designed to shift blame onto victims.
While condemning violence against all civilians, including affected Gurage and Oromos, NAMA maintained that the primary responsibility lies with state structures that permit or facilitate such actions. The movement called on the Federal Government to immediately halt arbitrary detentions, release political prisoners, restore confiscated property, and allow displaced populations to return.
NAMA urged the Ethiopian National Defense Force and Federal Police to maintain neutral security coverage in contested border areas. Additionally, the party appealed to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and international bodies to deploy independent investigative teams to document the abuses and exert diplomatic pressure on the government to uphold the rule of law.
