Ethiopia, an
African nation with a multi-ethnic population is on an ethnic strife after a
fresh war erupted between the federal government and the powerful regional
government in Tigray.
Ethiopia has been
facing hatful of crises like never before after the dispute began on November 4th.
Refugees are streaming out by hundreds and thousands into neighboring country
Sudan.
Ethiopia has been
struggling with the pandemic, worst locust outbreak in decades- destroying
crops and threatening food securities.
About Tigray People's Liberation Front and Abiy Ahmed
Ethiopia is a
country having multiple regional federation. Tigray is one such region that is
governed by Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) having its own regional
army- having large number of militias and special forces that have been trained
in the hundreds of thousands.
TPLF wasn't just in
charge of the Tigray region but in fact had ran the country for nearly 30 years
though they are minorities i.e. just 6% of the population. It stood as the head
of the coalition parties.
However, many of
them seen it as an autocratic and dysfunctional rule carried out, locking many
journalists and political dissidents. With massive protests carried out, they
were finally brought down. The chaos allowed Abiy Ahmed, a young leader seen as
a visionary to get elected.
Belonging to Oromo,
Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, he stood as a representative- to change the
norms and operations carried in the past- to bring prosperity to Africa's most powerful
country.
Being a Noble Peace
Prize winner, his governance brought opposition figures home from exile,
released prisoners- including some who had been sentenced to death.
He made sure to
keep himself involved in regions, dealing in peace. He toured United States to
excited diaspora crowds. Abiy is seen as a unifier, a son of Christian and
Muslim and of mixed ethnic heritage. He even apologized for government's past
abuses.
He introduced a political reform in the country that was dominated by TPLF and even announced an astounding deal with its own neighbor and fierce rival, Eritrea.
Cause of the Strife
The Tigray People's
Liberation Front had a disproportionate say in the operations carried by the
federal government based in the Adis Ababa capital. Unrest conditions between Abiy
Ahmed and TPLF considered each other illegal after Abiy became Prime Minister
in 2018.
He swept political
reforms, sidelining the once-dominant Tigray leaders. The Tigray region
government saw it as a power grab and a ploy to weaken the federation after
Abiy broke apart the powerful ruling coalition led by the TPLF, to bring it
under one hood as prosperity party.
This caused tensions among TPLF and federal government. Due to the pandemic, Abiy postponed this year's elections which the TPLF disregarded and held nonetheless.
The
prime minister refused to look at the results and threatened to pull the
federal funding. This revived belligerency and the conflict began after TPLF
attacked a national military base.
Crises
Prime Minister Abiy
Ahmed announced on November 4th, a military attack on the regional
government in Tigray in response to offensive operations carried by the Tigray
forces.
The dispute has
costed more than 25,300 refugees to flee the Tigray region into Sudan amidst
the ongoing pandemic, said the UN refugee agency on November 16th as
fights have spilled beyond Ethiopia's borders, threatening to inflame the Horn
of Africa region.
More than 5000
refugees- the highest single day record of arrivals have arrived in Sudan's
border provinces of Kassala and al-Qadarif last Sunday since the start of the
conflict in Tigray earlier this month, the UNHCR said.
Most of the
refugees arriving are woman and children- exhausted, hungry and thirsty as they
cross into Sudan walking miles and also crossing river Tekeze by boat or swim.
Authorities in
Kassala and al-Qadarif have requested UN agencies to speed up assistance to
deal with a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation. Officials said that
they expected almost 200,000 refugees to enter Sudan last week.
Activist
Abdel-Rahman Awad Abdel Rahman in al-Qadarif claimed that there are many
refugees who haven't registered with the UN refuge agency and have arrived with
almost nothing- needing a huge amount of assistance as numbers continue to grow
on a large scale.
Discomfort in Eritrea
The national
conflict resulted into international unrest as TPLF fired missiles on former
enemies and neighbor Eritrea. TPLF declared that Eritrea was supporting the Federal
in targeting their region.
As struggle
continues in Tigray region, the United Nations called for opening of routes to
four refugee camps to Eritreans who are relying utmost on humanitarian aid.
Ann Encontre, UNHCR representative in Ethiopia, said that
while refugees live “in harmony” with northern Ethiopians – with whom they
share a language and similar culture – “any breakdown of normal life puts those
in camps at higher risk, particularly in an area where stocks and access to
services are dwindling”.
Eritreans are subjected to take up indefinite military
services and repression which has caused many of them to flee in order to
search for better opportunities out of what has long been one of the world’s most isolated
dictatorships.
Approximately
507,000 people – almost one-tenth of Eritrea’s population – had fled by 2018,
according to the UN.
Encontre
said she is “deeply concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in
Tigray, which is compounded by the lack of access and our current inability to
bring in food and supplies to those in need, including the 100,000 Eritrean
refugees in the region”.
“While
it is difficult to assess the situation on the ground – we have not been able
to talk to our teams for the past 48 hours – we fear that civilians, including
refugees, could get caught up in the crossfire.
“We
need urgent access to the four refugee camps to be able to assist,” she said.
Across Ethiopia and Eritrea, refugees were
in a great dilemma as they weren't aware about their safety due to communication
blackout across Tigray. Refugees are frightened as they are not aware what
could follow next amidst the political perturbation.
Jason Rizzo, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans
Frontieres or MSF) project coordinator at Hamadayet, along the Sudan-Ethiopia
border, said new arrivals were struggling to get food, water and shelter.
“UN
agencies and organisations on the ground are doing what they can to respond but
it’s simply not enough at this stage,” Rizzo said.
Refugees
are sleeping outside shops or on the side of the roads at night, he said.
“Our
medical teams are hearing that some refugees are risking their lives by going
back into Tigray to look for food or belongings they left behind. Others are
selling goats or whatever they can manage in order to afford what they need.”
Written by - Peter
Fernandes
Edited by – Adrija Saha
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