[ad_1]
Ethiopian lawmakers approved slashing funding for the northern Tigray region, the upper house of parliament announced on Wednesday, a decision a senior Tigray official denounced as “totally unacceptable and dangerous.”
The move deepens a bitter divide between the federal government in Addis Ababa and the regional government in Tigray, each of which considers the other to be illegitimate.
The funding cuts are a response to Tigray’s decision to hold regional elections last month despite a nationwide pause in all polls due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Federation Chamber, the upper house of parliament, previously dismissed regional elections as “null and void.”
“The Federation Chamber has announced that the illegally formed Tigray regional assembly and the cabinet has no legal basis, so it will not receive budget support,” Federation Chamber Speaker Adem Farah told the state television.
Tigray was to receive subsidies from the federal budget totaling 10.4 billion Ethiopian birr (about $ 281 million) for the current fiscal year.
It is not clear how much of that amount would be affected.
Adem’s interview aired a day after the Federation Chamber announced that it would cut off contact with Tigray’s leadership.
Adem said Wednesday that federal authorities would maintain relationships with lower-level government agencies in Tigray, although it was unclear how that deal could work.
Tigray is governed by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopian politics before Abiy came to power in 2018.
During the Abiy Tigrayan government, leaders have complained of being unjustly targeted in corruption trials, dismissed from senior 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.
Tigrayan leaders rejected the extension of political mandates, which were due to expire this week before the pandemic, and say Abiy no longer has a mandate.
Wondimu Asamnew, head of the Tigray Friendship Liaison Office, told AFP on Wednesday that the cuts in federal funding for Tigray were “totally unacceptable and dangerous” and suggested they could jeopardize the region’s future role in Ethiopia.
“You do not do this to a member of the federal republic unless you want, in practical terms, to declare that Tigray is an independent foreign state,” Wondimu told AFP.
“The consequences are very, very serious,” he said, adding that a formal response from Tigray would come “in a very short time.”
