Amba, Ethiopia – Arjash Noro referred to the green scene circulating in the Amhara area in Ethiopia. “We are used to watching the sunset from the hills,” she said with a sigh. “But no more.”

These days, it is very dangerous to risk leaving the safety of the village, according to Noro, an accountant of 30 years old and a local tourist guide. Gallery shots can sometimes be heard from afar. The local population was kidnapped. Schools were forced to close.

“The political situation has changed everything,” Noro added, staring at the ground in sadness.

For decades, insecurity and violent conflict struck many parts of Ethiopia – no more than that through Tigray’s struggle Between 2020 and 2022, which led to the death of about 600,000 people in the East Africa, it was estimated.

But one place that has not been relatively touched is the village of Awra AmbA, which is located in the highlands in Amhara. Society, which was established in the 1970s, is a pioneering YouTobali project for about 600 people living with accurate equality, including the equal workplace by sex.

Over the years, AWRA AmbA gained recognition of her efforts, and won prizes for her approach to conflict resolution-which includes special conflict meetings and democratically elected committees-as well as her focus on peace. Officials from the Ethiopian government and international bodies such as the United Nations, the Red Cross and Oxfam came to monitor the famous example of society.

However, during the past two years, there has been a deadly conflict in Amhara-a home of the region for the churches that UNESCO protected in Laibella and the historic castle of Jundar-where the armed group violently clashed with the federal government soldiers in the EndF National Defense Force (Endf).

Since the conflict began in April 2023, after Prime Minister Abi Ahmed tried to resolve the regional forces to the police or the Federal Army, there have been reports on sex -based violence and thousands of murder committed by Endf and Fano, who are calling for full control of the lands they claim.

The international non -profit crises group described development as a “fateful new war.” Amnesty International called for global interest in this “human rights crisis”, while Human Rights Watch condemned the “war crimes” committed by Endf.

“There is a shock now in the region, there was destruction,” said Panteho Sheviro Cane, a researcher at the Center for International Political Studies in Ottawa, Canada, who is from Amra and worked in Ethiopia until July 2023.

In turn, the High Community of AWRA AmbA was arrested in the escalating conflict fire.

Economy economy

Noro is a member of the community’s cooperation, which collects all his income and resources together. They use money for projects, including the care house for the elderly, orphan support and a luxury charity to help people in need. Noro said that the economy, which was once satisfied, had been transferred to his head.

AWRA AmbA once welcomed thousands of visitors annually-local and international tourists alike, as well as classes of school students-who can stay at the site’s hostel and buy community products, such as manually woven clothes.

But overnight, this income evaporates.

“There were many foreigners who came to the visit,” said WorkSew mohammed, 25 years old, another former tourist guide at AWRA AWA. We were very happy to share our story on peace with them. But now there is nothing. It is very dangerous for them to come here. “

Society personnel are even afraid of traveling to the markets to sell their agricultural products, such as corn and TEFF, which is a common pill in Ethiopia, because robberies along the highway are now common due to the prevailing chaos.

“Trade has been affected,” said Ayalsio Zumra, a 39 -year -old member of society. “Going to other cities is difficult, and sometimes it is not safe. This means that we cannot transfer the product. But so we do more than others [of our] income.”

Community members, who live in modest Adobe homes and urge fields with bulls, are also affected by the ongoing conflict in other ways. In attempts to hinder the rebels, the Ethiopian government routinely banned the Internet across the Amhara region, which is the second most populated population in the country.

Alamu Nuruhak, 24, is studying at the university, to AWRA AmbA, where he was born and raised, to visit his family. However, due to blackout, he could not study.

Noruhak said: “It is difficult here to accomplish anything.”

Society was also forced to close a school, as it provided half of the money during its construction in 2019 and then donated to the state, due to the complexities of the conflict and this perception of the government. Last year, Vanu fighters got to AWRA AmbA and demanded to stop immediately.

“The government wanted the school to continue to work, but the other forces [Fano] “You don’t want to continue the learning process,” Zomra said. “The conflict … affects everyone.”

The destruction will cause a “greater crisis”

Then terrorism extended through AWRA AmbA last year when a village was kidnapped by unidentified armed men who demanded a million Ethiopian Bir ($ 7900) because of his return – a huge amount that society was unable to completely.

Meanwhile, the founder of the community, Zomra Noro, and his son, fled to the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. Local residents say his son was also a target to try to kidnap as the armed men came to search for him one day – but he was outside the city.

Chani, a researcher, says that the struggle of Amra will continue unless there is a major shift in my father’s policy towards Vano and that they are granted – as promised by the Prime Minister – the true political representation.

Vano fought next to the federal forces during the two -year conflict in Tigray, but in the aftermath of this, a people were not included from the Abi Party, including Vanu, in negotiations that resulted in Peace Pretoria deal In November 2022.

The history of Vano’s roots – the Amhi term that means “Freedom Fighter” – dates back to the popular forces that have risen against the Fascist Italian occupiers in Ethiopia in the thirties of the twentieth century, but today it is a largely informal alliance for many volunteer militias in the region that has gained great and wide -scale support in its battles.

“There is a shortage of political representation of Amharsas in Abi’s ethnic federalism,” Chani said.

“The Prime Minister and his government did not maintain their promises. He just kept his strength. He united his strength, so it is just one man’s offer.”

At the present time, the conflict continues in Amhara.

A report issued by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in June 2024 found that federal forces carried out torture, rape, executions outside the judiciary and murders of civilians, and that Vano militias were responsible for civilian killings, attacks on civilian things and illegal arrests. About four million children are said to be outside the school due to violence in the area.

“As we see in Amhara, nothing has been resolved through military action. So we need a clear and dangerous conversation between political groups.” “If the conflict continues, the destruction will lead to a greater crisis. The collapse of the state may lead to a greater risk of regional insecurity.”

The next day, the Awra Amba people dream about the remote highlands of Ethiopia with a peaceful solution.

“We only want peace,” said Zomra Noro founder, who is now 76 years old, on the island at his current home in Addis Ababa. “We believe that all conflicts can be resolved by discussion and reasonable discussion.”

He added that this is not the first time that the AWRA AmbA community has been arrested in the political conflict.

In 1988, during the DERG regime, a communist military government that ruled Ethiopia for nearly two decades, they were accused of supporting the opposition and forced to flee their lands.

The villagers were able to return only in 1993, two years after the authoritarian time of the regime in power.

“We have survived conflicts in the past,” Nuro said. “By working together, by seeing what is joining us, not what divides us, we can put an end to this suffering and bring peace to Ethiopia.”