Minister of Peace, Binalf Andualem said that of the 50 percent of members of Special Forces, many joined armed militant groups (Fano). This happened during the efforts made to transfer members of Special Forces to other security structures in the Amhara Region, according to the official. Binalf said that the recent conflict erupted in the Amhara Region following the “horrific attack” perpetrated on the defence army camp.
Binalf said in a discussion held with political parties yesterday, 14 August 2023 in connection to the recent security crisis in Amhara Region. He said that his government does not believe the conflict in Amhara Region was an incident that happened all of a sudden. Rather it was the result of cumulated “problems that arose at different times”, according to him.
Among the causes of the conflict as stated by the minister, the issue of boundary and identity, justice and equality and absence of enabling the environment to exercise political views can be mentioned here.
The Minister stated in particular that the question related to boundaries and identity, in particular, “did not get responses as quickly as possible”.
The recent war unleashed in the northern part of the country was one of the causes that aggravated the Amhara problem, according to Binalf. The people were mobilised largely by this war, he said. But he is of the view that after the war, effective works were not carried out to transfer armed people back to normal lives.
The Minister has also said that the work started to integrate members of the special forces of the Amhara Region into other government security structures has also created another problem.
But Binalf admitted that there were “gaps” in the implementation of this plan in the Region. When activities were started to implement the plan into action, almost half of the members of the special forces of the Amhara region had dispersed. “Almost 50 percent of the Special Forces were dispersed and joined the militants,” he said.
The attacks on the Amhara people living in other regions, the identity-based killings and forced displacements of the people of Amhara… [The practice of sidelining Amharas from the front row of the political arena], the complaints that Amharas could not lead peaceful lives in their own country… The people have also been discontented over the measures taken to ban them from entering into the capital, Addis Ababa… The hostage taking and the ransom money being asked to set free hostages… All these things contributed a lot to inflame the discontented Amharas, according to the Minister of Peace…
Representatives of political parties numbering about 16 participated in this meeting chaired by Minister of Peace, Binalf Andualem and the Minister of Industry Malaku Alebel.
Source See – ( https://borkena.com/ )