The 2014–2016 Oromo protests were a series of protests and resistance first sparked on 25 April 2014. The initial actions were taken in opposition to the Addis Ababa Master Plan, and resumed on 12 November 2015 by university students and farmers in the town of Ginchi, located 80 km southwest of Addis Ababa, encircled by the Oromia region. The plan was to expand the capital into the Oromia special zone, leading to fears that native Oromo farmers would lose their land and be displaced. The plan was later dropped but protests continued, highlighting issues such as marginalization and human rights. Mulatu Gemechu, deputy chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, expressed to Reuters: "so far, we have compiled a list of 33 protesters killed by armed security forces that included police and soldiers but I am very sure the list will grow". Protesters demanded social and political reforms, including an end to human rights abuses like government killings of civilians, mass arrests, government land seizures, and political marginalization of opposition groups. The government responded by restricting access to the internet and attacking as well as arresting protesters.
Abiy Ahmed Ali is an Ethiopian politician serving as the third Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018, and as a leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is a member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.
The 2021 Ethiopian general election to elect members of the House of Peoples' Representatives was held on 21 June 2021 and 30 September 2021. Regional elections were also held on those dates.
The Tigray War was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between forces allied to the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.
The Mai Kadra massacre was a massacre and ethnic cleansing carried out during the Tigray War on 9–10 November 2020 in the town of Mai Kadra in Welkait in northwestern Ethiopia, near the Sudanese border. Responsibility was attributed to a pro-TPLF youth group and forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in the EHRC-OHCHR Tigray Investigation, preliminary investigations by Amnesty International, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), and interviews conducted in Mai Kadra by Agence France-Presse. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and EHRC reported that at least 5 Tigrayans were killed in Mai Kadra by Amhara militas such as Fano in retaliation. Tigrayan refugees in Sudan told multiple news outlets that Tigrayans in Mai Kadra were targeted by either Amhara militias, the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), or both.
This timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.
Fano is an ethno-nationalist Amhara youth militia and former protest movement. Fano first emerged in the 2010s and during the 2016-2018 state of emergency as a protest movement against the former Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government. Although Fano is hailed for being instrumental in bringing about the fall of the EPRDF through both non-violent and violent struggles, their current status and organizational structure are unclear. The territorial integrity of the ethnic Amhara "homeland" has been a key issue for Fano. Protests led by Fano in 2017-2018 were often centered around the issue of Western Tigray and the ethnic Amhara who lived there. As the purported "protectors" of Amhara society, the Fano have engaged in violent conflicts throughout the state in the name of neutralizing perceived threats to the Amhara people and, by extension, Amhara nationalism. Fano has become aligned with –and, in many instances, absorbed — the Amhara Regional Special Forces. Fano militias are primarily involved in armed clashes with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF). They have also clashed with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) at the border of Ethiopia and Sudan.
All sides of the Tigray War have been repeatedly accused of committing war crimes since it began in November 2020. In particular, the Ethiopian federal government, the State of Eritrea, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Amhara regional forces have been the subject of numerous reports of both war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Following the 2018 dissolution of the ethnic federalist, dominant party political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, there was an increase in tensions within the country, with newly resurgent regional and ethnically based factions carrying out armed attacks on military and civilians in multiple conflicts throughout Ethiopia.
This Timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.
This Timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.
On 7 January 2022, the Ethiopian Air Force carried out an airstrike on a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) set up in Dedebit Elementary School, located in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. According to aid workers and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), between 56 and 59 people were killed and at least 30 others were injured. Investigators described the airstrike as a war crime, and particularly as an intentional and disproportionate violation of the law regarding the safety of civilians.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
Events in the year 2023 in Ethiopia.
The War in Amhara is an armed conflict in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia that began in April 2023 between the Amhara regional forces along with the Fano militia, and the Ethiopian government. The conflict began after the Ethiopian military raided the Amhara Region to disarm the Amhara Special Forces and other regional allies, which resulted in resistance of local armed forces and a series of protests in Gondar, Kobo, Sekota, Weldiya and other cities on 9 April.
Political repression is a visible scenario under the leadership of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed after 2018, characterized by severe human rights violation, restriction of press, speeches, dissents, activism and journalism that are critical to his government. Similar to TPLF-led EPRDF regime, there was a raise of censorship in the country, particularly internet shutdowns under the context of anti-terror legislation labelling them "disinformation and war narratives" since the raise of armed conflict in Ethiopia. In June 2018, Abiy unblocked 64 internet access that include blogs and news outlets.
On August 13, 2023, the Ethiopian National Defense Force launched a drone strike on the town of Finote Selam, in the West Gojjam Zone of Amhara Region in Ethiopia which killed 30 people while injuring more than 55 people who underwent emergency treatment. The strike was occurred after the ENDF recaptured several towns in the Amhara Region during its clashes with Fano militia in early August.
Arega Kebede is an Ethiopian politician who is serving as President of Amhara Region since 2023. On 23, August 2023, he succeeded Yilkal Kefale amidst security crisis in Amhara Region following clashes between Fano militia and ENDF in early August and six-month state of emergency. He was appointed by Amhara Regional Council in Bahir Dar.
The 2022 North Shewaclashes were a seires of clashes that broke out between ethnic Amhara Fano militiamen, the Oromo Liberation Army, and the Ethiopian National Defence Forces in North Shewa zone of Oromia and the Oromia Zone of the Amhara region, which resulted in dozens of people killed and thousands displaced.
The OLA peace process is a set of negotiations, agreements and actions to end the insurgency of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which split from its wing, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLA) and rebels against the Ethiopian federal government since 2018. The Oromia region has experienced prolong conflict and instabilities first initiated by OLF with successive Ethiopian government since 1973.
