In late July, Yared Melese, a 30-year-old NGO worker, checked into a hotel in North Wollo zone, part of Ethiopia’s troubled Amhara region. He had gone to assess humanitarian needs on behalf of Action for Social Development and Environmental Protection Organisation (ASDEPO), an Ethiopian non-profit.

A clash between the Ethiopian army and rebels in a restive northwestern region has killed at least nine people, mostly civilians, say hospital sources and a local official.

At least nine people were killed and more than 30 others were injured in fresh fighting that erupted in Debark and Dabat towns of the North Gondar zone in Ethiopia's Amhara region between government forces and the Fano militias, witnesses and medical sources told VOA Horn of Africa Service.