News of heightened unrest in the Tigray region of Ethiopia hit the mainstream media within the last few weeks with the sack of Gen Adem Mohammed, Ethiopia’s Army Chief.
It, however, appears that the battle has long begun prior to the recent outburst and can be traced all the way back to 2018 when Abiy Ahmed emerged as Ethiopian Prime Minister.
When Ethiopia’s elections were inadvertently suspended due to the pandemic, the Tigray ruling party, defied those orders and held a vote which was then declared illegal by the central government.
The ruling party maintained that since Abiy’s tenure had elapsed, his administration is now illegitimate.
The parliament also attests that the Tigray leadership had violated the constitution and endangered the constitutional system.
Abiy also met a stone wall with the Tigray ruling party when he tried to merge several regional parties into one, which they failed to join or acknowledge.
Currently, reports of thousands of Ethiopians have fled from the war-prone regions into neighbouring Sudan in fear for their lives.
The prime minister, Abiy Ahmed ordered an attack on the region on grounds that the Ethiopia National Defense Force in Mekelle was overtaken by forces loyal to the regional government of Tigray and declared a six-month state-of-emergency in the region whilst blocking all movement and external communication.
History has it that the Tigray region although accounts for 6% of Ethiopia’s 100 million population, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, TPLF, Party has been the most dominant party in Ethiopia for many years until Abiy Ahmed’s administration which saw many of their representatives relinquish power after being accused of corruption, human right abuses and others which led to their removal.
In addition, Abiy, seen as a reformist leader tried to restore unity between Ethiopia and Eritrea. the two countries have had a generational long-standing feud with Eritrea but is seen as a traitor in the Tigrayrian region because the feud stems over a border territory domiciled within the Tigray jurisdiction and are unwilling to hand over to Eritreans.
Abiy Ahmed seems fully determined to squelch all forms of resistance within the region, the TPLF has also expressed their battle readiness making it appear that the conflict is not coming to an end anytime soon.