Fano’s Diplomatic Milestone: How AFPO’s Outreach Reshapes the Amhara Struggle

By Sisay Mulu

The recent diplomatic engagement between the Amhara Fano Popular Organization (AFPO) and representatives from the United States government, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), and IGAD is a decisive chapter in the ongoing struggle for Amhara survival and justice. This meeting was not just about recognition: it was a pivotal moment in the Amhara struggle, a moment that wrecked the Ethiopian government’s unchallenged monopoly on international diplomacy. The very fact that international and regional stakeholders sought a meeting with AFPO signals an acknowledgment that Fano is not just an armed movement, but a key political and military force shaping Ethiopia’s and by extension the Horn Africa’s future. This is indeed a seismic shift in local and regional geopolitical dynamics. The regional and global role players are compelled to recognize that, despite its own internal frictions, the Amhara Fano is a force that must be reckoned with, not ignored or dismissed.

The significant aspect of this meeting was AFPO’s articulation of the Amhara resistance’s objectives to key global and regional players. For far too long, the Ethiopian regime and its propaganda machinery have worked to vilify and misrepresent Fano, portraying it as a mere group of bandits and insurgents rather than the legitimate ironclad self-defense force that it is. AFPO decisively dismantled this false narrative, making it unequivocally clear that the Fano’s struggle is not about a group of disgruntled peasants or bandits of youth with Kalashnikovs hiding in the bushes to destabilize the country, but about survival of the Amhara people who faced a well-orchestrated campaign of ethnic extermination. The Ethiopian state, instead of protecting all its citizens, is a tool for genocide, mass displacement, and institutionalized discrimination against Amharas. The Amhara Fano movement is a natural reaction against this state-sponsored annihilation. Fano’s objectives, as outlined by representatives from this meeting, are non-negotiable: to protect the Amhara people from extermination, to resist the authoritarian regime that has turned Ethiopia into a dictatorship, and to ensure justice, security, and fair political representation for Amharas in a future Ethiopia that no longer treats them as second-class citizens. This meeting was not a concession to diplomacy. Instead, it was a clear declaration that Fano is a legit movement with an uncompromising commitment to justice.

Beyond presenting the fundamental objectives of the Amhara cause, AFPO seized this opportunity to demand humanitarian aid and assert Fano’s role as the only credible entity capable of distributing it within the Amhara region. The current Ethiopian government has adopted a calculated policy of mass starvation, famine and economic strangulation to break the Amhara people’s will. The international community must no longer be complicit in this genocidal atrocity by channeling aid through a regime that uses food as a weapon of war. The reality is visible: Fano controls over 80% of the Amhara region, and if humanitarian actors genuinely wish to prevent mass starvation, they must engage directly with all Amhara Fano factions who are in control on the ground. AFPO has exposed the lie that the Ethiopian state can be a trusted ally to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery and has pleaded to the international community to reconsider its blind reliance on a regime that has been an architect of suffering, rather than a solution to it.

The other most critical and far-reaching impact of this engagement was AFPO’s demand for international recognition of the genocide and war crimes committed against the Amhara people. For over three decades, the Ethiopian state has relied on deception, suppression of dissent, media control, and diplomatic maneuvering to downplay, deny, and obscure its genocidal campaign against Amharas. AFPO confronted the world with the undeniable truth: mass killings, drone strikes on civilians, systematic ethnic cleansing, mass graves, and the complete destruction of entire Amhara communities are not random acts of violence—they are state-sponsored genocide. Fano did not merely call for recognition; it issued a challenge to the international community: will global actors continue to protect a genocidal regime, or will they stand for justice? This event placed the responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the U.S., the EU, and other influential regional and global role players. 

Time to Turn Recognition into Global Action

All Fano factions, including those not currently under the AFPO structure, should embrace this diplomatic breakthrough as their own collective achievement. This diplomatic breakthrough was earned through the sacrifices of all Amhara Fano groups, whose unrelenting will to sacrifice compelled the world to take notice. While AFPO was the first entity to be approached by the diplomatic community, the credit belongs to every Fano fighter who took arms to defend the Amhara people from an ongoing genocide. Moving forward, any subsequent diplomatic engagement must include all Fano factions, not only for the sake of unity but also to solidify collective recognition and reinforce the legitimacy of the Amhara struggle on the global stage.

All Fano factions, along with every Amhara—whether fighting on the ground or advocating in the diaspora—must ensure that this pivotal moment is not wasted. Recognition by international bodies is not the ultimate goal; it is just the beginning in a larger battle for survival and justice. The Amhara struggle must now be guided by unified vision, strategic indulgence, and firm determination to demand radical structural changes. There is no room for infighting, misinformation, or petty divisions—these are luxuries the Amhara people cannot afford in the face of an existential crisis.

Fano’s leadership, across all factions, must separate the hay from the seed and distinguish those who are genuinely committed to the cause from those who seek to derail it. This is a moment for a bold and matured leadership flourish, and those within the Fano movement who are prepared to meet this challenge to rise to this critical occasion. They must consolidate their political and military strategy, ensuring that this diplomatic breakthrough is translated into tangible gains to advance the Amhara cause.

Those undermining this progress, whether from within Fano or outside, must be called out for what they are: enablers of the very regime that seeks to annihilate the Amhara people. Whether driven by short-sighted political ambitions, external manipulation, or personal rivalries, any action that weakens Fano unity directly serves the interests of the Ethiopian government, which thrives on a divided Amhara Fano. Now is the time to stand together, strengthen the movement, and transform recognition into real power.

The other potential role player, the Amharaa diaspora which has often been a liability to the struggle, must rise to this occasion and seize this moment by pushing the global advocacy effort to its highest level yet. The world is watching. The world is finally beginning to acknowledge Fano as a force that cannot be ignored. But recognition is only the first step. This opportunity must be a launching pad for even greater engagement, greater advocacy, and greater international pressure on the Ethiopian regime. The Amhara struggle is at a defining moment, and what happens next will determine the future of an entire people. 

The world has been forced to listen. Now, it is time to force it to act. The Ethiopian regime’s international allies must be pressured to end their unconditional support for a government that commits mass atrocities with impunity. Elections in the U.S. and Europe present an opportunity—diaspora communities must demand that elected officials take a stand on the Amhara genocide and call for tangible actions, such as cutting unconditional aid to the regime, imposing sanctions on those responsible, and formally recognizing the Amhara genocide.

Editor’s note : Views in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of borkena.com
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