Addis Ababa (HAN) November 13th, 2020. Regional Security and Internal Stability. News 18- Update: Ethiopia sought to tighten its grip on the rebellious Tigray region on Friday by appointing a new local leader on Tigray Regional State during a federal military offensive that has killed hundreds and shaken the wider Horn of Africa region acros the borders of Eritrea, Djibouti and Sudan.
The Federal Ethiopian troops’ 10-day push against the northern state has sent refugees flooding into Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and raised fears it may suck in Eritrea or weaken an African force opposing Islamist militants in Somalia if Ethiopia diverts troops from there (fake news).
It may also blemish the reputation of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for a 2018 peace pact with Eritrea and had won plaudits for opening Ethiopia’s economy and easing a repressive political system.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali accuses the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which rules the mountainous region of more than five million people, of treason and terrorism. They say he has systematically persecuted Tigrayans since taking office in April 2018.
The conflict began last week when Abiy says the TPLF attacked a military base, since when his army has been carrying out air strikes and ground combat which the government says has “liberated” west Tigray.
Abiy, who comes from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group the Oromo, said parliament had named former Addis Ababa university professor and deputy minister for science and higher education Mulu Nega, 52, as chief executive of Tigray.
“The Chief Executive will recruit and appoint heads to lead executive organs of the regional state from political parties legally operating in the region,” he tweeted.
Current Tigray leader Debretsion Gebremichael, who won a local election in September despite central government orders to cancel it, has been formally accused along with other TPLF officials of treason, armed rebellion and terrorism.
The TPLF gang leaders and its supporters in Tigray and its diaspora say their region has been invaded by Amhara, Somali, Oromo and Eritreans; There was no immediate response from Debretsion or other TPLF figures to Friday’s appointment. A dissertation by Mulu, published on the web site of Twente University in the Netherlands where he obtained a doctorate in 2012, states his place of birth as Tigray.
Update: By: News 18 – This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
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