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Addis Ababa (AFP)
Ethiopian lawmakers approved a six-month state of emergency in the northern region of Tigray on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered military operations there in an escalation of a long-running dispute.
The move is part of an attempt by Abiy, a winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, to assert federal control over a region whose ruling party has openly defied it for months, calling it illegitimate.
The lower house of parliament “unanimously approved” the state of emergency in a session Thursday morning, said Fana Broadcasting Corporate, a state affiliate.
Under the country’s constitution, under a state of emergency, the government has “all the power necessary to protect the peace and sovereignty of the country” and can suspend some “political and democratic rights.”
A senior government official told AFP that in Tigray this could lead to a curfew, warrantless searches, transportation and communications restrictions and the arrest of “anyone who [officials] suspect is participating in illegal activities that violate constitutional order. “
The state of emergency could also extend beyond Tigray if necessary, the official said.
Ahead of Thursday’s vote, the Ethiopia Human Rights Commission, the national human rights body, noted the need to maintain key services and supplies for civilians.
Lawmakers “should particularly consider ensuring humanitarian access and support, including food, medicine and other essential civil services to avoid a complete blockade of communication and transportation facilities,” he said.
– TPLF denies ‘attack’ –
Abiy announced the military operations in Tigray on Wednesday morning.
He said the move came in response to an “attack” by the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), on a military camp there.
But a senior Tigrayan official told AFP on Thursday that the “attack” never happened.
“We did not launch any attacks,” said the official, Wondimu Asamnew.
Speaking on state television Wednesday night, Abiy said there will be more operations in the “coming days.”
“In general, when the operations are finished we will make them known to the public,” he said.
The government has not disclosed a timeline or clear military goal for the campaign, although a spokesman for a newly formed crisis committee said Wednesday that the goal was to “liberate” the region from the TPLF.
Abiy said the initial “attack” produced “many martyrs,” but officials have not provided much information on subsequent military operations.
The fighting so far appears to have been mainly concentrated in western Tigray, diplomats and aid workers said.
Wondimu, the TPLF official, reiterated the TPLF’s claim that the Army Northern Command had broken up with Abiy, a claim dismissed as false by Abiy’s office.
“The Northern Command has started to cooperate voluntarily with Tigray to save the country from an all-out civil war,” Wondimu said.
He also said that “there were no civilian casualties and only some skirmishes with a few soldiers who have not respected the decision of their commanders.”
“I’m working like anyone else in Mekele,” he said, referring to the regional capital.
The fighting in Tigray has prompted expressions of concern from the UN, the United States and the EU.
An African Union official told AFP on Thursday that the body, based in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, was reaching out to “all players” to try to quickly end the conflict.
“The African Union is engaged in shuttle diplomacy in the region and with all the actors at the moment to try to find some kind of solution. But clearly it is very sensitive at the moment,” the official said.
“I know that everyone is clamoring for public pronouncements. The situation is so dire that it is really about doing it. No solution will be found on Twitter.
The TPLF dominated politics in Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy came to power in 2018 thanks to anti-government protests.
Under Abiy, Tigrayan leaders have complained of being unfairly targeted in corruption prosecutions, removed from the highest positions, and generally scapegoats for the country’s troubles.
In the previous weeks, tensions increased over control of military assets in the region.
© 2020 AFP
