Ethiopia Crisis

Article written and website edited by Misaki Tomiyama

Image credits to Google maps (Image has been edited)

Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed announced that his government has dropped an airstrike targeting the military base of the TPLF (TPLF- a military party in the northern Tigray state). The central government and the TPLF have been clashing for months after the TPLF withdrew from the government coalition. The two sides further clashed in September, when the central government decided to ban the elections due to the spread of the coronavirus. TPLF has been greatly defying the central government, and despite their ban, the leaders of the Tigray state carried out an election. The central government stopped funding the TPLF executive and started funding the local government.

The central government captured the towns of Shire and Raya, in the Northern region of Tigray. Abiy Ahmed has announced that he is now advancing his military to Mekelle, the capital of Tigray. The soldiers in Tigray are fighting the army of the central government. Because of the blackout, communication is difficult in Tigray, but it is said that hundreds of deaths were reported within these past few days of the clashes, and the UN warns of an outbreak of a "full-scale humanitarian crisis". Around 27000 people have fled to the northern border of Sudan.