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Ethiopia’s Abiy Encounters Fresh Dissent as Former Allies Rebel

  • More than 4,000 people arrested in Amhara region: state media
  • Crackdown is politically risky move for the prime minister
Abiy Ahmed

Abiy Ahmed

Photographer: Eduardo Soteras/AFP/Getty Images

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Barely two months after a truce was declared in Ethiopia’s civil war, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is confronting a new challenge to his authority from his one-time allies in the northern Amhara region.  

Amhara’s forces and an ethnic militia known as Fano fought alongside federal troops against rebels from neighboring Tigray, whose leaders were once the nation’s preeminent power broker before being sidelined by Abiy. The conflict has claimed thousands of lives since it erupted in late 2020.