SUMMARY

AFPO (Amhara Fano People's Organization) was a sub-group of the Fano militia, fighting the Ethiopian government in the Amhara region. Fano was not a uniform movement, but rather consisted of several geographically separate factions, each with its own leader, but with a shared overall goal. Over time these factions made numerous attempts to create a unified command structure and a single political wing and AFPO was the result of one of these efforts.

In May 2024, Amhara opposition politician and journalist Eskinder Nega launched AFPO, intending for it to function both as a political wing for Fano and a coordination body of the armed factions. However, Nega failed to convince the Fano movement at large to unite under this banner. Militarily, the new grouping was dependent on a number of semi-autonomous regional factions, such as Gojjam Fano under Masresha Setie, Gondar Fano under Dereje Belay, Welo Fano under Fantahun Muhaba and Shewa Fano under Meketaw Mamo and Baye Kengaw. The group had no single unified battlefield command.

While the group had a presence in all areas corresponding to the territories of the factions it included, its strongest and most consistent military presence was in North Shewa region. There is no reliable, independently verified figure for the size of the AFPO specifically, but a cautious assessment would be that it likely fielded several thousand fighters.