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Walia Ibex, who also beat the Ivory Coast giants in the same place, are now top of the group with nine points, two ahead of The Elephants, who play Niger in the other match.
Madagascar has fallen to third place, also with seven points and must now win their final group match against Niger next Tuesday and hope the Ethiopians do not take a point away from the Ivorians.
At the break, Ethiopia held a 3-0 lead with goals from Gebremichael Aregawi, Abubaker Nassir and captain Getaneh Kebede. Shemeles Kebele sealed the victory with a goal with four minutes remaining.
They broke the deadlock in the 19th minute when Gebremichael fired a low shot from inside the area after being taken out by Ramdan Yusef. The forward took a bunt to slide onto his favorite right foot before hitting low to beat the goalkeeper.
Madagascar, which was one of the revelations in the last Nations Cup in Egypt, came out to try to return to the game and an immediate response almost rang out when the returning Faneva Andriatsima ran down the left but her shot hit the side of the net.
The visitors pushed Ethiopia into their own half as they looked to get back into the game, knowing that a win would put them in a good qualifying position.
But their fight was cut short in the 34th minute when captain Kebede launched a sublime free kick, sending the ball flying off the wall from outside the area after Yusef was knocked down.
The islanders never gave up their fight despite going down two and had another chance when Zotsaraa Randriambololona tried to knock the keeper off his line with a free kick from the area, but the keeper made a soft save for a corner.
Outside of the counterattack, Ethiopia seemed to have buried the match when Nassir scored the third. A sweet exchange of passes inside the area with Suraffel Mengitsu opened it through the area before hitting low between the keeper’s legs.
Barea’s men looked deflated but continued their fight in the second half. However, all his efforts resulted in nothing. Faneva had a shot from the area that went just wide, while in the 64th minute, Carolus Andriamahitsinoro saw a header that went straight to the goalkeeper.
He made a second effort in the 72nd minute when he controlled a cross inside the box, but couldn’t muster enough power behind his shot.
Finally, it was Ethiopia who would seal the match with four minutes remaining. Bekele scored the fourth after Kebede was denied a double with a save by the goalkeeper.
