NAIROBI, Kenya – The Tigray Defense Forces [TDF] continued to close in on Amhara and Afar territories, a move that could further inflame conflict in Ethiopia, which has been rife with unrest in recent months.
Since November 2020, the conflict has taken to a higher level after the Ethiopian National Defense Forces [ENDF], Eritrean troops and Amhara regional forces attacked the Tigray region in pursuit of the TDF, which has ruled the state for several years.
According to the American publication Amhara, TDF penetrated the Amhara territories by 80 km, displacing more than 5,000 people from the region. The conflict has aggravated the territorial conflicts of the Somali Afars, killings of civilians have been reported.
The TDF was committed to making new entries to Amhara and Afar, the main objective being to cut rail and road links to Djibouti. The main intention is to suffocate Addis Ababa by blocking import and export.
And to block the entry of TDF, the Amhara authorities are now mobilizing young people to join the regional army in order to fight against the aggression. Addis Ababa Mayor Adanech Abiebie urged the city’s youth to join the army.
In addition, Ethiopia has deployed special police to parts of the country and campaigns to recruit new fighters have been launched with the aim of stopping the TDF surge. No sign of potential mediation talks as fighting persists on several fronts.
Sunday’s statement by Amhara regional president Agegnehu Teshager echoes an appeal made on Friday by the president of Ethiopia’s Afar region, just east of Tigray.
Taken together, the two statements highlight the potential for the Tigray War, which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared virtually over at the end of November, to drag out the rest of the country.
“From Monday, I call on all armed adults at government or private level to mobilize for a survival campaign,” Agegnehu said.
“We called on the general public to stand by our side. Now the public is on our side in all aspects, ”he added.
Meanwhile, Addis Standard reports that there could be possible cases of forced recruitment of fighters by the Oromia regional government. The regional government denies this and insists that the fighters sent to northern Ethiopia are all volunteers.
A community leader from the town of Bale-Robe who asked to remain anonymous told Addis Standard: “They bring young people together from neighboring towns and bring them together in the town. The young people of the city are not spared either.
Asked about the numbers, he replied, “The numbers are huge, why they are doing it and why right now, I don’t know. The community leader explained that the mechanisms in which the recruitment process is implemented can only amount to conscription and argued that underage adolescents could be victims of the process.
AXADLETM
