Everyone is following with interest what is happening in Ethiopia these days, the war raging there because of the Tigray region, and the violations that have increased in recent hours as a result of the continuous aerial bombardment on the region, which makes the residents of the north vulnerable to killing and displacement. In the beginning, the Tigray Liberation Front is the one that led the political scene in Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018. , which led to the emergence of the Revolutionary Democratic Front, and it did not leave the scene until Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018.
Immediately after his appearance on the political scene, Abiy Ahmed called for the formation of his political party called “Prosperity.” Therefore, he wanted the Tigray Liberation Front to join the party to be under his umbrella and supportive of his policies, as an alternative to the previous front, but the front refused to join his party, and from here the conflict between them intensified.
Signs of that conflict appeared in the Front’s rejection of Abiy Ahmed’s political and economic reforms and his way of managing the country from the first moment he took power. They also accused him of marginalizing the Tigray region and of holding them responsible for the consequences of his reckless policies, and that he is pursuing vengeful policies against them and working to liquidate their leaders and symbols to cure them of their opposition to him. Consequently, tensions have existed between the Ethiopian government and the region for two years and more.
The conflict began to develop, and the tensions turned into direct confrontations, last September, when the Ethiopian government announced the postponement of the elections in the country due to Corona conditions, but the Tigray region did not comply with Abiy Ahmed’s orders and held elections in the region on September 9, and said that the constitution guaranteed him That’s right. The Parliament of the Tigray region chose Debre Sion as head of its government, but Addis Ababa was not convinced of this, did not recognize it, and declared it unconstitutional, beginning a new chapter of the conflict between them.
Abiy Ahmed declared the elections held in Tigray illegal, saying that they were useless and that they did not affect his government. The Ethiopian parliament, with both chambers, immediately began imposing sanctions against the Tigray regional government and cutting off funding for it. In a message from him that he will not accept anything that undermines his mandate.
But how did the fighting start in the last days? What is the pretext that Abu Ahmed used as his excuse?
Everyone knows that the Oromia region, to which Abiy Ahmed belongs, began a series of uprisings two years ago and organized many anti-government demonstrations as a result of the dispute over land ownership and their demands for freedom and human rights. Thus, Abiy Ahmed has failed even to satisfy the nationalism he expresses, and every time. These demonstrations resulted in dozens of deaths and the arrest of hundreds of opponents. Then came the killing of the famous singer Hachalu Hundessa, who was assassinated for criticizing Abiy Ahmed’s policies, after one of his supporters was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as it increased the intensity of these demonstrations. , in several cities of the Oromia region, as a result of which the Oromia government accused the leaders of the Tigray region of financing these demonstrations and that the “Aung Sheni” group, an armed group that broke away from the opposition Oromo Liberation Front, was receiving combat training in the Tigray region. This was one of the pretexts for attacking that northern region and raining missiles on it, but it seems that Abiy Ahmed is no longer thinking about anything other than remaining in power, even if it costs him the loss of Ethiopia.
The army in the entire northern sector has announced its separation from its leaders affiliated with the federal government, and its joining the ranks of the Tigray people. Therefore, we are facing a dangerous scenario. There are also many concerns related to these violations and their potential impact on Eritrea, which overlaps with Ethiopia in terms of ethnicities, and with Sudan, which overlaps. With the Tigray region across the border. It seems that the country is at risk of sliding into a civil war that threatens its continuity as a federal republic capable of including all these ethnicities. In any case, we do not expect the international community to turn a blind eye to these blatant violations against Tigray civilians as a result of the bombing that Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed insists on, which could turn the Horn of Africa region into a war zone and a fertile environment for terrorism!