The Mystery of Fano's So Far Successful Military Strategy

How did Fano achieve in 5 months what Tplf achieved in more than 30 years of organization and fighting? The following are the major explanations:

1.Fanoism is a cultural military heritage for collective self-defence particularly in the Amhara (Amharic-speaking) regions of Ethiopia

2.The AMHARAs have been outrageously betrayed by the Abiy regime which they wholeheartedly supported at the beginning because it stood against Tplf, Ethiopia’s and Amhara’s sworn enemy ! Abiy profiled AMHARAs for ethnic cleansing and genocide, making the Fano struggle a matter of sheer survival, thus providing the moral wherewithal for military success.

3.Fano is fighting on the terrain it knows like the back of its hand.

4.Fano is fighting in the midst of its own Amhara people for its own people, with all that implies in terms of resources, logistics and intelligence.

5.Abiy’s troops are therefore like fish out of water and are vulnerable to being easily routed, leaving behind more than enough arms for Fano fighters.

6. In addition, Amhara Fanos joined the country’s national force against TPLF, not to support Abiye, but to defend the country against treason.  When TPLF started the war and killed significant number of innocent people including the country’s defence force, who stood guard and protect the Tigre population and region, then Fano as defender of sovereignty stood for the country.

This also needs to be clearly repeated.

On the other hand, Fano’s core military strategy is becoming more clear by the day: it seems to be a lightning hit -and-run guerrilla tactic where even major towns and cities are taken briefly to release political prisoners and storm arms depots and attack key enemy targets including political and military personnel. The tactic has drained Abiy’s military resources including fighting soldiers. The end result is hardly in doubt:

 Abiy’s military resources will be depleted, and he will be forced to withdraw his mercenary troops from Amhara killil but Fano will continue its war of attrition, step it up to hot pursuit and chase Abiy Ahmed all the way to MENELIK Grand Palace ! Abiy is no fool ! He will have vacated the Palace in the nick of time !

This, by the way, is only a tentative attempt on my part to shine some light on what seems to be a mystery to me:

Fano’s blitz military operations to control towns and cities after relatively brief military encounters with the heavily armed Abiy war machine. I certainly would like to have comments illuminating the basic Fano military strategy which to me seems to contain the following major factors:

1.Generally a war of attrition;

 with

2.blitz hit-and-run guerrilla tactics the end result being

GIRMA BERHANU
Professor

GOTHENBURG UNIVERSITY
Department of Education and Special Education
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