Since 2023, the northwestern highlands of Ethiopia have been engulfed in one of the world’s most overlooked wars. Amhara nationalists known as Fano have launched an insurgency, claiming to defend their community in a nation still scarred by the Tigray War. Federal troops are accused of bombings, rape, and arbitrary arrests. As allegations of war crimes grow, so does the rebellion’s grip on the countryside. In 2025, I traveled 100 kilometers through Fano-controlled territory, cut off from the outside world, to document this conflict, which has already claimed thousands of victims.
