Ethiopia: a rebel alliance is formed against the federal government

Published on : 11/06/2021 – 7:50 AM

Nine Ethiopian rebel groups announced on Friday (November 5th) the creation of an alliance against the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in a “united front” led by northern TPLF fighters who threaten to march on Addis Ababa.

Faced with the escalation in this conflict ravaging the north of the country, the United States, Sweden and Norway on Friday called on their nationals to leave Ethiopia and the UN Security Council called for a ceasefire. fire.

In a joint declaration, the fifteen member countries of this body “call for an end to hostilities and to negotiate a lasting ceasefire”, before an “inclusive” dialogue to “resolve the crisis”.

Under pressure after having been unable for a year to provide a unified response to the Ethiopian conflict, they “expressed their deep concern about the extension and intensification of military clashes”.

The federal government has been at war for a year against fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), who have advanced in recent months beyond their strongholds, particularly in the Amhara region.

They said on Wednesday they had reached Kemissie, 325 kilometers north of the capital, where they joined the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an armed group of the Oromo ethnic group with which they have been allied since August.

The two groups did not rule out marching on the capital to bring down Abiy Ahmed. The government denies any threat to Addis Ababa.

The TPLF and the OLA announced on Friday that they would unite with seven other lesser-known organizations of uncertain scope, from various regions (Gambella, Afar, Somali, Benishangul) or ethnic groups (Agew, Qemant, Sidama) which constitute the ‘Ethiopia.

“Our intention is to overthrow the regime,” said Berhane Gebre-Christos, representative of the TPLF at the signing in Washington of this alliance, dubbed the United Front of Ethiopian Federalist and Confederalist Forces.

Communication war

Ethiopian Attorney General Gedion Timothewos called the coalition a “publicity stunt”, arguing that some of these organizations “did not really have a grassroots base”.

The spokeswoman for the Prime Minister for her part blasted the “disinformation” of the TPLF intended to create “a false feeling of insecurity”, assuring that a “feeling of normalcy” prevailed on the contrary in Addis Ababa.

The impact on the conflict of this “front” remains uncertain.

“If they are really serious in their determination to take up arms against the government, it is potentially a real problem” for Abiy Ahmed, told AFP a diplomat familiar with security issues, while conceding not knowing most of these groups, their numbers and resources.

This alliance seems to demonstrate the TPLF’s desire to show that it has support beyond Tigray.

>> To see: our focus: Ethiopia, the war in Tigray spreads in Amhara

The TPLF had already established a coalition with other ethnic and geographic groups in the late 1980s, before overthrowing the autocrat Mengistu Hailemariam in 1991.

This Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, dominated by the TPLF, then ruled the country for nearly 30 years, before a protest movement that brought Abiy Ahmed to power in 2018.

Having become Prime Minister, the latter gradually removed the TPLF from federal power.

Calls for a ceasefire

After months of tensions, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner sent the army to Tigray in November 2020 to remove the regional authorities, from the TPLF, whom he accused of having attacked military bases.

Abiy Ahmed declared victory on November 28. But in June, the Tigrayan fighters took over most of the region and continued their offensive in the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara.

The government has promised in recent days to win this “existential war”.

Both camps remain deaf to international calls for a ceasefire and negotiations, relayed Thursday and Friday in the Ethiopian capital by the American envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman.

>> To read: Ethiopia: “The risk of regional destabilization is very real”

Ethiopia’s defense ministry on Friday called on army retirees to re-engage “to protect the country from the plot to disintegrate it.”

A state of emergency was declared across the country on Tuesday, allowing authorities to detain without warrant anyone suspected of supporting “terrorist groups” or to suspend media that “provide moral support directly or indirectly” to the TPLF.

Lawyers told AFP that thousands of Tigrayans had been arrested since the state of emergency was announced.

With AFP