Ethiopia declares 'State of Emergency' over violence in Amhara

The national army and local fighters from the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia have been engaged in increasingly deadly skirmishes, prompting a "state of emergency" declaration by Ethiopia's federal government on Friday.

"It has become necessary to declare a state of emergency as a situation has emerged where it has become difficult to control this unacceptable movement under current law," the office of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated in a statement shared on social media.

It was unclear from the statement if the Amhara region to the north of the capital Addis Abe was included in the state of emergency or not.

Questions from AFP received no immediate response from Abiy's government.

As fighting between the national army and local militants in Amhara has intensified recently, international countries have issued travel advisories and Ethiopian Airlines has cancelled flights.

Since the federal government declared in April that it was eliminating regional troops, notably in Amhara, where nationalists believed the action would undermine Ethiopia's second-most populous region, tensions have risen.

Local Amhara officials requested assistance from the federal government in controlling security on Thursday because the situation had become "difficult to control" and was upsetting the local social and economic order.

The government said that the violence "endangered the constitutional order" and that a "unanimous" decision had been made to declare a state of emergency.

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