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09:31 pm
Sunday 08 November 2020
Books – Muhammad Safwat:
On Sunday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed fired the head of the army, four days after launching a military attack on the province of Tigray, in the north of the country, which threatens to escalate into a civil war. The prime minister’s office said in a statement today that Burhan Gula, the army’s deputy commander, “was promoted to the post of commander,” without mentioning the reasons for the dismissal of his predecessor, Adam Muhammad.
Abe has continued a military campaign against the Tigray region since last Wednesday, despite international calls for a political dialogue with the regional government, as the UN said in a statement on Saturday that nine million people are at risk. displacement due to internal conflict.
Abe seeks to restore federal government control over territory governed by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which has been challenging its authority for months, and in a military operation announced by Ethiopia against the region and its government, an Ethiopian military plane bombed, the Sunday, a missile and artillery site near the airport in Mekele, the provincial capital.
There is a state of total blackout in the Ethiopian military operation against the region, but there are indications that the fighting appears to be fierce between the regional forces and the Ethiopian armed forces. A doctor tells “Agence France Presse”, which refused to reveal his identity, that there are about 100 Ethiopian soldiers who have been admitted to a hospital in the Amhara region. .
The Ethiopian prime minister, last Wednesday morning, imposed a state of emergency for a period of 6 months in Tigray, after announcing a military operation against the authorities of the region, whom he accused of attacking the Ethiopian army bases.
And the Ethiopian Federal Police announced last Friday that some of its officers in Tigray had been attacked by TPLF forces and that widespread looting had occurred there.
Under accusations that the region violated the constitution and endangered the Ethiopian constitutional order, the Parliament in Addis Ababa on Saturday adopted the decision to cancel the Tigray Executive and Regional Council and announce the formation of a transitional administration, according to the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.
The radio said that the transitional administration will be tasked with holding constitutionally acceptable elections and implementing the decisions approved by the federal government.
For his part, the leader of the Ethiopian region of Tigray said Sunday that the federal government only has its authority in the region, noting that the region will defend itself until the government negotiates, Al Arabiya reported.
Diplomats and experts have warned that the rapid evolution of the conflict that has lasted for a few days may turn into a civil war that leads to the destabilization of Ethiopia, which has a population of 110 million, in addition to its threat to regional security in the Horn of Africa.
For its part, International Crisis Group warned, in a report yesterday Saturday, of the continuing fighting in the region, referring to the possibility of a “devastating conflict that could tear the Ethiopian state apart.”
In a report to them, they called on Ethiopia’s leaders, African leaders and the country’s international partners to urgently and immediately pressure Addis Ababa for a ceasefire and the start of an unconditional political dialogue.
The report noted the presence of a large military force in the region with good training, whose strength is likely to exceed a quarter of a million combatants, in addition to the fact that the region’s leadership enjoys strong support from its population of about six million people. , which indicates once again that the war can be long and bloody, highlighting the need to stop fighting in the region between the two sides.
Tensions rose between Ethiopia and the Tigray authorities, since last September, after the region was carried out in defiance of the central government in Addis Ababa, which called the voting process “unconstitutional”, coinciding with Addis Ababa’s announcement to postpone the national vote for the Corona virus outbreak.
The Tigrayan Liberation Front was the strongest partner in the ruling coalition, and the region’s leaders controlled national politics for thirty years before Abe came to power in 2018, after which his power diminished and he refused to join the new ruling party founded by Abiy Ahmed.
The region includes a large part of the military personnel and equipment of the federal state, which is the legacy of the two-year war between 1998 and 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which borders the region.
