Addis Abeba — The Amhara Regional State Peace Council has announced that one of its leaders, Melake Mihret Nekatibeb Genet, head of the Peace Council in the North Gojjam Zone, was killed by armed groups while "carrying out his responsibilities to promote peace and reconciliation."

In a statement cited by regional media, the council said Melake Mihret had been "actively involved in conflict resolution efforts in the region, working through dialogue, reconciliation initiatives, and community consultations at public gatherings and peace forums."

He had also "consistently urged" armed groups to engage in negotiations with the government to ease the suffering of the population, according to the statement.

The council stated the circumstances surrounding the killing saying that on the evening of 8 July 2025, armed groups "abducted Melake Mihret from a church where he was serving" and took him to their stronghold in Dahna Mariam, where he was "subjected to mistreatment". He was later killed on 12 August 2025.

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Last year, footage circulated online showing armed groups forcing elders, identified in captions as members of the peace council, to crawl on their knees. Four of them were later killed, an act condemned by the regional government as "brutal."

This week the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) has confirmed the abduction and subsequent killing on 14 August of its staff member, Honelegn Fantahun, by armed groups in the region, marking the latest in a pattern of deadly attacks against humanitarian workers and assets across Ethiopia.

The Amhara Peace Council was established in June 2024. Upon its formation, it issued a statement highlighting the suffering of communities in the region and calling on all parties to the conflict to seek peaceful solutions through dialogue. But its activities have so far not provided tangible outcomes to end the two-year militarized conflict in the region.