Since the early 1990s, the Amhara people of Ethiopia have been subject to ethnic violence, including massacres by Tigrayan, Oromo and Gumuz groups along with others, which have characterized by some as a genocide. Perpetrators of massacres include various ethno-militant groups such as TPLF/TDF, OLF–OLA, and armed groups of Gumuz.

Ethnically motivated attacks against the Amhara have been reported, with mass graves having been discovered in various locations. The results of two consecutive National Census Analyses and a report by CSA head Samia Zekaria revealed that over 2 million Amhara could not be traced. The figure could be associated with massacres and or disappearances of Amharas.

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) among other groups were formed in the 1970s with a manifesto calling for Tigray to secede from Ethiopia. Previous resentments between ethnic Tigray and Amhara rulers were reported. The Tigray manifesto is criticized for incorporating polarizing contents that symbolize the Amhara people as the responsible ethnic group for socio-economical, and country-level political and historical issues. Violence against ordinary Amhara, its intellectuals, and civic leaders started in the early 1990s, with armed ethnonationalist groups occupying many parts of the country.

After the fall of the Derg regime in 1991, various ethnonationalist groups such as the TPLF came to power, this regime change triggered a series of attacks against the Amhara. The TPLF would go on to become the dominant power and ruled the country for 27 years as the EPRDF coalition, until the end of EPRDF rule in 2018.

Following the dissolution of the EPRDF, the House of Peoples' Representatives would elect Abiy Ahmed to serve Prime Minister. Abiy would found the Prosperity Party which would go on to lead the country. A power struggle would occur between the ruling Prosperity Party and the TPLF, which led to the Tigray War. Reports show that a pro-TPLF youth group carried out the massacre of Amhara civilians in the town of Mai-Kadra. Following the Tigray Defense Forces recapture of most of Tigray, leading to the subsequent withdrawal of government forces, the TDF invaded the Amhara and the Afar regions in July 2021. The Mai Kadra and other massacres in the Amhara region that occurred since the start of the war has expanded the map and volume of the mass killings the already occurring violations in various places such as Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz (Metekel Zone), Tigray, the former SNNPR, and the Amhara region.

Background The Amhara and Agew peoples coexisted and shared historical and cultural values for centuries. Similar to other Ethiopian nationals, both groups contributed to building the nation, made contributions to the nation's long historical accounts, and they now live in most parts of Ethiopia. Since agriculture is the main source of food in the country, Amhara and Agew farmers earn income from producing staple crops. Due to the frequent drought occurrence, they are, however, stricken by poverty— more than 80% of them are traditional farmers. In some instances, these groups are misrepresented as Orthodox Christians, although, significant proportion of them are Muslims. Both groups have been exposed to similar existential risks— including the systematic massacres and crimes disclosed in this article. However, claims of genocide against the Agew people requires an independent report.

Perpetrators The controversial section in the 1994 constitution, ethnic self-determination to secede from the nation, is described by experts as the root cause of ethnic-based violence in the country. Reports discussed that the perpetrators were generally organized, in some cases they can be identified by the victims, and in others, the attackers were unknown to them. The actors demonstrated mixed motives: ethnic origin (with these common religions in Ethiopia: Christian, Muslim and Jews), religious origin (Orthodox Christians), or both. The armed groups mobilize from region to region with alleged collaboration with local government officials, and are from these groups Ethnic Oromo militant perpetrators such as the OLA (former military wing of the OLF) also known as Shane or Oneg. The Qeerroo youth groups are also accused of collaborating with these groups The Tigrayan actors such as the TPLF, TDF and pro-TPLF youth groups in the annexed, and various places in Amhara region Gumuz actors in the Metekel Zone which is in the Benishangul-Gumuz region. Other actors in the Southern SNNPR region and other places

Timeline

The four major Amhara genocidal timelines include:

The rebel movements can be characterized as Manifesto preparation period that influenced the ethnic federalist constitution, with campaigns, reprisal, and guerrilla wars The launch of massacres across many regions under Tigray Region and the TPLF regime that ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 The scaled-up simultaneous mass killings in many regions under the Oromo-led Prosperity Party ruling began in 2018, and Expansion of Amhara mass killings with the Tigray War since November 2020

Pre-1991: The manifesto rhetoric and historical accounts There are over eighty ethnic groups in Ethiopia that have been living together through history. In the 1970s the ethno-nationalist insurgents were created under the TPLF leadership with Marxist–Leninist manifesto seeking Autonomy, Self-Rule, and for some, Hegemony. The groups were the TPLF (Tigrayan People's Liberation Front), OLF (Oromo Liberation Front), EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberation Front), and WSLF (Western Somali Liberation Front). The doctrine consists of anti-Amhara rhetoric that portrays the group as the all-time-sole-ruler. However, the divisive narratives are disapproved by most and taken as the political mechanism used to introduce ethnic sensitivities. For leadership in the southeastern and southwestern parts of Ethiopia, history reflects that those with Oromo or the assimilated Oromized backgrounds exercised ruling outside of their traditional jurisdictions including in the partial northcentral part of the country where most Amhara and others lived. Records show that the era of Zemene Mesafint and onwards central governance was diverse. The aggression of the Oromo that followed the Islamic invasions in the 16th century and subsequent Oromo settlements to central Ethiopia brought some changes to parts of the historical jurisdictions occupied by others— renaming of lands and rivalry. The documented Oromo assimilation and expansion mechanisms involve "Mogassa and Gudifecha", typically described by the member of the group as methods of "adopting" other ethnic groups. The controversial assimilating process involves the unbreakable oath: to hate what the group hate; to like what the group like; to fight what the group fight; to go where the group goes; to chase what the group chases.

There are over fifty six ethnic constituents who have been living in the southern regions. The groups practice ancient customs to elect their leaders and generally maintained traditions. Historians recorded exceptional cases in which several tribes were assimilated into the Oromo group. In general terms, natural ethnic tensions and ruling rivalries occurred in the country throughout history. However, the complex groups developed traditional approaches to coexisting. Despite ethnic differences, intermarriages and collaborative customs between the various groups have been practiced in most instances. Reports show that these constituents united when external threats were projected against the country.

1991– 2018: TPLF rule and Article 39 In 1991, the TPLF-dominated ruling was established as the EPRDF coalition with a new constitution and subsequent regional demarcations. The controversial Article 39, Nations, Nationalist, and People Self-determination is part of the constitution and grants rights for any ethnic group to secede and form a Nation. During this period, polarizing contents were thought of in schools and promoted through the system.

Annexations The Greater Tigray autonomy that was designed by the TPLF involved the annexation of lands from neighboring former provinces of Gonder and Wollo, with a coastal possession strategy from Eritrea. Immediately after TPLF secured governmental power in 1991, the Raya-Alamata and Welkait were annexed into the Tigray region. These lands have been ruled as southern and western parts of Tigray for three decades. Following the outbreak of the Tigray War, Amhara forces occupied these disputed territories – with reported tension in these area. Metekel is also another strategic land from the point of view of accessing the Nile river and annexed to the Benishangul-Gumuz region from the former Gojjam Province. Similarly, the Dera and surrounding lands in Shewa, Amhara region are also forcefully administered under the Oromia region following the Oromo-led ruling since 2018. These annexations are protested by the Amhara and described as systematic measures taken for accessing various resources in the Amhara region. One instance is the Tana Beles national project which incorporated the Lake Tana, and Beles rivers of the Nile— both in the Amhara region. In addition, the GERD became the largest Nile hydroelectric project with significant geopolitical influence on the Horn of Africa. With the ongoing large-scale mass violence against the Amhara and Agew who live in the annexed regions, many expressed grave concerns about the lack of political and economic representations and fear for their security.

Massacres and crackdowns The 27-year rule of the TPLF regime has been characterized as a repressive system with many forms of massacres, enforced disappearances, and systematic destructive measures taken against the Amhara, and other ethnic groups. Reports showed that mass killings of the Amhara started in the Assosa zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz region in the Metekel zone (which was then part of Gojjam Province) in 1990. After the 1991 power control by the TPLF and insurgents, mass violence and crackdowns on Amhara intellectuals and its public figures launched. A political opponent who was also a medical professor and surgeon, Asrat Woldeyes was imprisoned and abused along with other members of the All Amhara People Organization (AAPO) civic group. The cause of the elderly doctor Asrat's death is associated with the lack of timely medical treatment following the abuse that he endured during and after his imprisonments. TPLF ruled the country for nearly three decades with multiple rigged elections that led to mass violence and killings of innocent people in Addis Ababa, abuses, and torture against journalists and public figures in various regions, including in the Amhara region. See Massacres by region, for locations of crimes across Ethiopia.

2018— present: Transition to the Oromo-Led Prosperity Party Reports showed that many hoped for peace when the TPLF regime was replaced with a new Prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, who was also the 2019 Nobel Peace prize awardee. He came to power from the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP)— that he has been serving as the chairman. Many of the expressed concerns over his administration include domination of Oromo-based power in his council, ministerial and parliamentary circles, impunity of perpetrators, with concerns over repressive ruling as in the case of the TPLF's authoritarian regime. As of July 6, 2022, this period is active with large scale massacres in Wollega, Oromia— see the Amhara massacres in 2022–2023.

State incitements