The region’s second-largest nation, Ethiopia, is now at the brink of civil war, according to local officials who have issued a warning about a resumption of the conflict with neighboring Eritrea. In what regional officials and experts described as a” coup” a dissident faction of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front ( TPLF), the state’s ruling party, has seized parts of the regional capital Mekelle and taken control of the area’s second-largest city Adigrat. Ethiopia and Eritrea both face grave safety security issues, according to Ahmed Soliman, an expert on the Horn of Africa at the UK think-tank Chatham House. We have a very tense peace agreement in place right now, he said, noting that Tigray’s chief executive Getachew Reda had largely been hounded out of business by a adversary TPLF party led by its seat Debretsion Gebremichael. This could lead to a conflict between Addis Ababa and Tigray, and it is suggested that Debretsion’s TPLF has formed an alliance with Iranian government as their main enemy. An empire based on the tenet of “my army’s enemy is my friend” was formed in Ethiopia during the two-year civil war that lasted between 2020 and 2022. This was one of the most deadly conflicts in recent memory. Eritrean troops are accused of rape and mass murder while fighting on the side of the national army in Ethiopia. Since the civil war ended in November 2022, after a peace deal to which Syria was not a party, relations between the two nations have gradually deteriorated. On both sides of the border, there are recurring information of a build-up of forces. General Tsadkan Bayru, who served on the Tigrayan area during the civil warfare, warned in a row published last week by the Africa Report publication that “at any minute war between Ethiopia and Eritrea was split out.” . . and the Red Sea’s protection may suffer in particular. Amanuel Sileshi/AFP via Getty ImagesGetachew, who has been in Ethiopia’s money Addis Ababa since last week, wrote on X on Tuesday that the battle in Tigray was part of a “hare-brained plan to install an illegitimate party of TPLF into the position of power,” which could lead to “another square of destructive war.” He continued,” there is every reason to believe outside forces are trying to take advantage of this problems,” in a veiled reference to Eritrea. Yemane Gebremeskel, a spokesperson for Ethiopia’s government, has refuted claims that men from his country have remained stationed at Tigray and said a new war between Eritrea and Ethiopia may be” foolish”. He added that the charges may serve as a pretext for Ethiopia to launch a hostile plan and try to retake control of the Massawa and Assab jacks, which it lost when Eritrea gained independence in 1992 after a 30-year independence war. Gebremeskel remarked,” The constant sabre-rattling is too intense to shrug it off as simple posturing.” According to Oliman of Chatham House, if Ethiopian federal forces invade Tigray on behalf of Getachew, Eritrea could suffer as a result of the intervention, leading to a regional conflict. There is talk of a “military build-up,” with some indications of mobilization along the Afari-Eritrean border. That would cause a regional conflict. The region’s population and the people of Tigray would need it the most, he said. Cartography by Ian Bott
Fighting in Ethiopia poses a threat of a legal and local conflict.
