Fano Kirubel's story tells the miserable situation Ethiopia's youth find themselves in. But they are fighting back and degrading the regime's war machinery.
Fano Kirubel was like any successful young man in Ethiopia. He had a career, and he had a family and wife.
But after 27 years of regressive leadership and radical ethnic politics, EPRDF (today's PP and TPLF) made Ethiopia a hell for normal everyday youth.
The last five years saw the country in a bitter civil war and trends of genocidal campaigns mainly between the factions of the former EPRDF, Abiy Ahmed's PP and TPLF. The victims of this chaos are normal everyday people who lived and led proper adult lives.
The TPLF and Abiy Ahmed's PP fought proxy wars in every part of Ethiopia which saw the massacre of tens of thousands of people until 2020. The main victims of this proxy war were Amhara who trusted Abiy as a responsible leader and would give them protection as citizens of the country. It didn't happen.
Over three million Amhara were internally displaced from Oromia Abiy Ahmed's home region by armed gangs directly affiliated with the prime minister himself. Former members of Abiy Ahmed's Oromo prosperity party can be asked to confirm but Gashena Sirna an armed gang Abiy Ahmed organized without the knowledge of the regular army is behind most of the ethnic cleansing in Oromia against Amhara.
But in Nov 2020, the TPLF officially started the northern Ethiopia civil war by massacring thousands of ethnic Amhara troops who were part of the regime army's northern command based in Mekelle, Tigray.
Despite Abiy and his Oromo general being in charge of the regime army, TPLF target of Amhara members of the army clearly shows the unofficial death sentence every Amhara individual carry in today's Ethiopia.
After Abiy withdrew the army for undisclosed reasons and leaving the Amhara region vulnerable for TPLF attacks in June 2021, the Amhara youth were forced to defend themselves by any means possible. They were organized in volunteer groups known as Fano. The TPLF destroyed the entire Wollo Amhara province, central and northern Gondar and parts of northern Shoa until it withdrew in winter of 2021.
Kirubel lost his younger brother in Lalibela Wollo fighting TPLF forces in that winter. The TPLF was finally unable to push against allied forces of Abiy Ahmed's army, Fano Amhara forces and Eritrean troops and was forced to sign a surrender peace deal in Pretoria in fall 2022.
Following this peace deal, Abiy turned his guns against Fanos. He officially declared war on Fano fighters in April 2023. After stunning counter offensives in August 2023, the Fano military wings were capable of controlling the entire Amhara region.
When Abiy forces started barbarically shelling civilian cities and towns a week later, Fano forces were forced to withdraw from major cities of Bahir Dar (regional capital), Gondar, Lalibela, Debre Markos, Debre Tabor, and Debre Birhan while maintaining their grip on 80% of the region which is one third of Ethiopia. That was done to avoid humanitarian catastrophe and the burning of these ancient Amhara cities and their histories.
On Sunday September 24th, 2023, Fano Gondar brigade raided Gondar city which is the second most populous city in Ethiopia next to Addis Ababa the capital. The fighters surprised regime forces and were able to hold on to the city the entire day and night freeing their members from prisons and capturing large depots of weapons from the regime's army. Kirubel and a few others lost their lives in that operation. For his mother, he was the second to be martyred in two years due to the ongoing civil war.
Spokesman for Gondar Amhara Fano command said they will remember him (Kirubel) and the other comrades in honor, but Kirubel's life is the life of every sane Ethiopian man and woman. Abiy Ahmed has put the country in endless humanitarian catastrophe and civil war. Official estimates say over 1.2 million people including fighters have been killed since Abiy Ahmed came to power in Ethiopia in 2017.
It's been six months since Abiy Ahmed declared war on Amhara. His army only made Fano fighters more organized, and battle hardened. It hasn't defeated them. Kirubel's funeral was attended by thousands in occupied Gondar. It was a disgrace for Abiy. Nobody, even unarmed moms do not fear to celebrate Fano fighters.
The Gondar operation showed his forces can not defend any Ethiopian land from a truly armed force. Abiy's collateral for remaining in power is civilian catastrophe. His forces are capable of doing a few things like raping little girls, shelling cities and towns from far, carpet-bombing civilian neighborhoods, killing church-goers with drone.
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