Addis Ababa — The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ethiopia has made a plea to the combatants, asking them to immediately cease the ongoing war between the Amhara militia (Fano) and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), and to resolve their problems through dialogue. The appeal was contained in the message released on August 7, 2023, the first of two weeks of fasting - from the 7th to the 22nd of August - for the Assumption of Saint Mary.

The Conference also invited all the faithful and goodwilled to pray for justice and peace to prevail in Ethiopia, and urged the population to repent.

In their message, the bishops pointed out that Ethiopia has just come out of the Tigray War: "Many were killed in the recent war in the north of our country. Many were wounded, they suffered economic, social and psychological damage".

"We were all very happy that peace was achieved by way of dialogue" the message continues. However, we are deeply saddened to learn that another war has started before the results could even be savored".

The Catholic Bishops invited the government to intensify its efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. "We reckon that the government's political will is very important for dialogue to take place".

The War between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) which broke out in November 2020, ended with a peace agreement signed in Pretoria, South Africa, in November 2022, putting an end to the fighting in Tigray, which had killed tens of thousands of people. The Amhara Fano militia, allied with the Ethiopian army in the previous war, came into conflict with the central government after Addis Ababa, in mid-April, announced it would disband the paramilitary units many Regional States had created over the past fifteen years. Amhara nationalists fear the government is seeking to weaken the region.