Northern Ethiopia fought and destroyed for a year

On November 4, 2020, the planet focused on the US presidential election. In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abi Ahmadinejad launched a military operation in the north of the country, marking the beginning of a catastrophic war.

The rapid and targeted intervention promised by the Nobel Peace Prize 2019 has turned into a protracted conflict marked by massacres and rapes, raising fears of famine in the north of the country.

. What is the origin of the conflict?

According to Abi Ahmed, the military operation was launched in 2018 by Mr. It aims to arrest leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party in the region that effectively ruled Ethiopia for three decades before Abi.

The Prime Minister accused the TPLF of attacking two military bases in Tigray, which the TPLF denied.

Mr. The intervention marked the culmination of several months of tension in which TPLF leaders, ousted from power by Abhi, openly challenged the power of the federal government.

After weeks of airstrikes and fighting, the federal army captured the regional capital, McClellan, on November 28. Abi Ahmed won.

But in June, the TPLF launched a counter-offensive and recaptured most of Dikray. The Ethiopian army retreated and the Abi government declared a “humanitarian ceasefire”.

. What is the condition of the ground?

After the Tigray, the TPLF, according to its leaders, pushed back its offensive in neighboring Afar and Amhara to prevent the re-integration of Ethiopian troops.

Abi Ahmed, for his part, called for a national mobilization against the TPLF’s “terrorists”.

In recent weeks, the fighting has focused on Amhara, just south of Tigray.

Communication has been cut off in much of northern Ethiopia and access to journalists has been restricted, making it difficult to check ground conditions.

Tigre has seen minor fighting since the end of June, but the Ethiopian air force carried out airstrikes there in late October, killing many civilians.

The government says it is targeting rebel facilities. The TPLF claims that they show the contempt of the federal authorities for the lives of the citizens.

. What is the humanitarian situation? –

More than 400,000 people in Tigris have “crossed the threshold of famine,” a senior UN official said in July. Since then, conditions have worsened.

A US State Department spokesman told the AFP in September that basic services such as electricity, banking and telecommunications were “not provided by the Ethiopian government,” citing “signs of a seat situation.”

The UN estimates that one hundred trucks must reach the aid degree every day to meet the needs of the people. Since mid-July, only 15% of this figure has been reached.

Based on the documents in October and the humanitarian organizations there, the AFP confirmed that the death in the region was caused by starvation.

The government blames the TPLF for these delivery difficulties as it enters Afar and Amhara. Ethiopian officials have also been accused of blocking access to Tigre, which they deny.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced by fighting in Afar and Amhara.

. What is the hope for peace?

Abi Ahmed’s government has denied any mediation, especially to the African Union (AU), which considers it an internal affair of Ethiopia.

In August, the AU appointed former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo as the High Representative of the Horn of Africa. Diplomats say Obasanjo is working to streamline the talks.

But “it’s hard to imagine these heroes sitting around a table and discussing,” said William Davison, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

Even if the talks go ahead, “it would be illusory to think that things would return to normal after so much bloodshed and destruction,” said Avet Veldemichel, the university’s horned African defense expert. Queens (Canada).