The Ethiopian army and the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) today began another round of war in the northern part of the country near Zoble Mountain Kobo area.
The spokesperson of TPLF Getachew Reda twitted: ““The Aby Regime has launched an offensive against our positions in the Southern front. After week-long provocation using Amhara special force divisions, Amhara militia from all over the region and beyond as well as Fano from Wollo, the southern and sixth command of the regime has.”
“Joined the fray by launching a large-scale offensive. Our forces are heroically defending our positions. The regime’s well-orchestrated campaign the international community has now been revealed for the drama that it has always been!” twitted Getachew, who is also “Advisor to the President of Tigray; Executive Committee member, TPLF. Member, Central Command, Government of Tigray”.
Responding to the TPLF accusation the Ethiopian Government Communications Service said: “…the terrorist group TPLF armed group continued its recent provocations and launched an attack this morning at 5 a.m. on the eastern front in Bisober, Zobel, and Tekulesh directions. They officially violated the ceasefire with their actions. Both their attack and the subsequent statement indicate that they were preparing for the provocation.”
“Our valiant defense forces and our entire security forces are working together to defeat the terrorist attack. All of our security forces are on alert to protect the citizens’ peace and security from terrorist attacks. They have committed attacks and are crying out with the false propaganda that they have already mastered…”replied Ethiopian Government Communications Service in its statement.
It was last march that the two sides have ceased fighting without inking ceasefire agreement. It is recalled that the two sides were announcing their preparations to engaged in a peace talk led by the African Union appointed former Nigerian President Obasanjo. In its statement TPLF today indicated that secrete talks were made in Djibouti and Seychelles with Ethiopian Government to bring peace.
The bloody civil war started by in November 2020 by TPLF as admitted by one of its official on Tigray TV has claimed lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians from both sides while millions are displaced.
The disagreement between the Tigray region leadership and the Ethiopian government started after TPLF lost its dominance in the four ruling party coalition when the coalition (Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front – EPRDF) elected Abiy Ahmed as its chairman following the resignation of Hailemariam Desalegn.
Hailemariam Desalegn, who was also Prime Minister of Ethiopia, was forced to resign following the popular protests against the TPLF-dominated EPRDF. Mr. Hailemariam Desalegn came to power when the late Meles Zenawi unexpectedly / because he was deputy after the sudden death of Meles Zenawi, who ruled TPLF, EPRDF and Ethiopia for over two decades with iron fist policy of silencing the majority with minority ethnic group led British style leadership.
The ethnic politics and constitution introduced by TPLF, which claims to represent the Tigray ethnic group of Ethiopia which represent between 5 to 6 percent of the total population of the country. EPRDF, the brainchild of TPLF, was incorporated in the bush by brining aboard four political parties, namely: TPLF, Amhara, Oromo ethnic representatives, and merging over 40 tribes found in the southern part of Ethiopia as one party.
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition ignored five regions of Ethiopia found in the peripheral areas namely the Somali region, which claim to have equal or more than the population of Tigray; the Benishangul Gumz region, where the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is being built, Afar region, which neighbors Tigray, Eritrea, and Djibouti; Gambella region, which borders with South Sudan; and Harari region found in the eastern part of Ethiopia.
But when Abiy came to power to lead EPRDF, he automatically began the process of integrating the political parties in the five peripheral regions into EPRDF based on the previous decisions of EPRDF. He finally succeeded and rebranded EPRDF, as Prosperity Party, which TPLF refused to accept and be part of it.
Though this is one of the issues TPLF expressed its disagreement with the administration of Abiy Ahmed, Its critic say that the reason for the TPLF to go to war is to bring back its political and economic dominance over the 110 million population of Ethiopia. meanwhile as the war between the two sides continues for yet another round, the suffering of civilians in all sides is likely to worsen.