Ethiopia: Three illegal military training facilities found in Amhara region

Brigadier General Asamnew Tsege

ESAT News (December 6, 2018)

The regional head of security said illegal military training has been given in three facilities in the Amhara region which he said were responsible for the loss of several lives and destruction of properties.

Brigadier General Asamnew Tsege told the Amhara Mass Media Agency that those behind the illegal military facility have used the political and administrative demands of the Qimant people as a cover to destabilize the northern part of the region.

Tsege did not name those whom he accused of running the illegal military training facility but ESAT sources revealed that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a party ruling the Tigray region, was behind the operation of the illegal military training and illegal movement of weapons.

The facilities were being run for the past four years, according to Brig Gen Tsege.

The TPLF has used the political demands of the Qimant people as a cover to destabilize the Amhara region. The TPLF used its cross country ground transportation companies to smuggle weapons to three localities where the training facilities were found, according to ESAT sources.

Tsege said there has been an increasing incidence of holdups and abductions on the main highway connecting Sudan.

Three people were killed and several houses were burnt in recent violence in the area, which the Brigadier General blamed on elements that run the illegal training facility.