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The African Union has removed its chief of security, an Ethiopian national, after the Ethiopian government accused him of disloyalty to the country amid its conflict with a troubled region that threatens to destabilize the Horn of Africa.
The office of the bloc’s president, Moussa Faki Mahamat, ordered the removal of Gebreegziabher Mebratu Melese in a Nov.11 memorandum that was reviewed by Reuters. The order came after a November 10 letter from the Ethiopian Defense Ministry expressing concern about his loyalty.
An African Union official confirmed the authenticity of the two letters to Reuters. The Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Airstrikes and ground fighting between Ethiopian troops and local forces in the northern Tigray region have killed hundreds of people, sparking ethnic tensions and sending refugees to neighboring Sudan.
The conflict began on November 4, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive after accusing Tigray leaders of ordering an attack on a federal military base and challenging his authority.
The Ethiopian Defense Ministry cited the conflict in its letter to the AU, describing Gebreegziabher as a “Major General”, saying that he was not beholden to the AU or the Ethiopian government.
Gebreegziabher’s ethnic origin could not be immediately confirmed. The government said Thursday that it had arrested some 150 “criminal” operatives from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the capital Addis Ababa and elsewhere on suspicion of planning “terrorist attacks.”
“Ethnic targeted measures, hate speech and accusations of atrocities occurring in Ethiopia are deeply disturbing,” the European Union said in a statement Thursday. Ethiopia is home to the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa. Almost 4,400 Ethiopian soldiers currently serve in the bloc’s peacekeeping force in Somalia, according to the AU.
