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Ethiopian lawmakers ruled on Tuesday that federal officials must cut off contact with leaders of the northern Tigray region, which defied Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last month by holding elections that his government deemed “illegal.”
The decision of the Federation House, the upper house of parliament, promotes the breakdown of relations between Abiy and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopian politics before Abiy came to power in 2018 and he’s still in command in Tigray.
The Federation Chamber “decided that the federal government should sever any kind of relationship with the Tigray regional state assembly and the region’s highest executive body,” according to a statement issued Tuesday night by the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.
However, the statement said the federal government would continue to work with local institutions in Tigray to provide “basic services” to the region, meaning the decision does not amount to a total breakdown.
The TPLF led the armed struggle to overthrow the brutal Derg regime in 1991 and controlled the ruling coalition that came to power.
But since Abiy took office, Tigray leaders have complained of being unfairly targeted in corruption prosecutions, removed from the highest positions and generally scapegoats for the country’s troubles.
Ethiopia was due to hold national elections in August, but the country’s electoral body ruled in March that all voting should be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tigray went ahead with its own unauthorized elections for its regional parliament on September 9, with the TPLF securing 189 out of 190 seats.
While rejecting the Tigray vote as a “shanty choice,” Abiy ruled out dramatic retaliatory measures such as military intervention or cutting funding for Tigray.
His office recently referred questions about Tigray’s vote to the Federation House.
Tigrayan leaders, for their part, have rejected the extension of political mandates, which were due to expire before the pandemic this week, claiming that Abiy is no longer a legitimate ruler.
They have vowed to remove representatives at the federal level, saying that any decision the Abiy government makes in the future “will not be applicable” in Tigray.
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