STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION
FANA CONDEMNS DRONE STRIKES ON AMHARA SCHOOLS AND MONASTERIES AND CALLS FOR INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE · SEPTEMBER 18, 2026
Following documentation by the Amhara Association of America of verified drone strikes on a school in South Gondar and a monastery in South Wollo, FANA calls on the United States and international donor nations to review all assistance to the Abiy Ahmed led Oromo Prosperity Party (OPP) regime and demand an independent investigation into attacks on protected civilian sites in the Amhara war.
The Federation of Amharas in North America (FANA) condemns the ongoing aerial targeting of schools, monasteries, and other protected civilian sites in Ethiopia’s Amhara region by forces of the Abiy Ahmed led Oromo Prosperity Party (OPP) regime — a pattern most recently documented by the Amhara Association of America (AAA) in its September 1, 2026, statement.
According to AAA, more than 77 aerial strikes were recorded across six districts and four zones in the Amhara and Oromia regions in a single reporting period, with 226 civilians killed, 55 injured, and 13 cases of sexual violence documented across 45 districts and 14 zonal administrations. Two of the deadliest strikes targeted protected civilian objects: on July 1, 2026, drones struck a school in Qidist-Bethlehem Kebele of Tach-Gayint District, South Gondar Zone; on July 22, 2026, a drone strike hit the Ghion Abay St. Arsema Monastery in Borena-Sayint District, South Wollo Zone. Both are protected civilian sites under international humanitarian law.
Under Article 8(2)(e)(iv) of the Rome Statute, directing attacks against “buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected” — provided they are not military objectives — constitutes a war crime. Article 13 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions similarly prohibits attacks on the civilian population. The reported strikes in Tach-Gayint and Borena-Sayint therefore demand — at minimum — transparent, independent international investigation.
These attacks are not isolated. The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack has identified Ethiopia as one of only three countries worldwide with more than 100 documented attacks on education in its most recent reporting period. Addis Standard has documented the broader campaign of aerial strikes on Amhara civilians, including a February 2025 drone strike near Robit in the Ambassel district of South Wollo Zone which killed four people including three children. Insecurity Insight has separately documented a December 24, 2024, drone strike damaging an elementary school in Surba Kebele, Sekela Woreda, Amhara region. Taken together, these incidents describe not a series of accidents, but a pattern of aerial targeting of protected civilian sites — schools, monasteries, and the communities that gather in them.
The Abiy Ahmed led OPP regime has spent years denying, deflecting, and obstructing accountability for the escalating pattern of civilian harm in the Amhara war. Schools are struck while children study inside them. Monasteries are bombed during prayer. Villages are attacked while families sleep. And when journalists document these events, they are detained, isolated, and pressured to sign forced confessions. No government that respects its citizens, the rule of law, or international humanitarian law behaves this way. And no donor nation that continues to fund, arm, or diplomatically support this regime can credibly claim it does not know.
FANA’s Call to the International Community To the United States and donor nations — including the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Japan, and multilateral institutions including the World Bank and IMF:
Immediately review all aid, security cooperation, military assistance, arms transfers, and intelligence sharing to the OPP regime. Members of the United States Congress, particularly on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, should request formal briefings from the State Department on how the Administration is verifying that no U.S.-linked assistance supports units credibly implicated in attacks on schools, monasteries, or other civilian objects. Apply the Leahy Law rigorously to Ethiopian military and security units alleged to have conducted or authorized aerial strikes on civilian objects and suspend assistance to any implicated units pending independent investigation. Invoke Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act to request a Presidential report on the human rights situation in Ethiopia. Consider targeted sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against individuals credibly implicated in authorizing or executing attacks on civilian objects. Condition all future assistance on measurable human rights protections, and publicly demand that the OPP regime preserve evidence, cooperate with independent investigators, and cease all attacks on civilian objects in the Amhara region and elsewhere.
To the United Nations, African Union, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, UNICEF, UNESCO, and international human rights organizations:
Establish an independent international investigation into all reported aerial attacks on schools, monasteries, and other civilian objects in the Amhara war. Press the OPP regime for immediate clarification regarding who authorized the July 1 and July 22 strikes, what military objectives were alleged, and what precautions were taken to protect civilians. Demand preservation of evidence at all reported strike sites and unrestricted access for independent investigators to affected communities. Guarantee the protection of witnesses, survivors, journalists, and human rights defenders from intimidation or retaliation.
FANA reiterates that schools are not battlefields, children are not military targets, and monasteries are not military objectives. Protecting places of learning and worship is not a political question; it is a fundamental human obligation. FANA stands with the children, teachers, priests, and communities of the Amhara region who continue to suffer war crimes and genocidal violence under the Abiy Ahmed led OPP regime. The international community must decide, now, whether its resources will advance peace, accountability, and human dignity — or continue to enable a regime credibly accused of turning its weapons against its own children, its own faith communities, and its own future.
Primary source:
Amhara Association of America, “Renewed patterns of genocidal violence, state repression and false dialogue in Ethiopia,” September 1, 2026. https://www.amharaamerica.org/post/aaa-statement-2026-09-01
Additional references:
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, Education Under Attack 2026, via The Reporter Ethiopia (thereporterethiopia.com/51284); Addis Standard, “Collateral No More: Amhara civilians face relentless drone strikes,” June 2025 (addisstandard.com); Insecurity Insight, Ethiopia Flash News (insecurityinsight.org).
𝗙𝗘𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗠𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗦 𝗜𝗡 𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔 (𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗔)
𝐼𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 18, 2026