Sofonie Dala - Young Talents from Africa : 11/24/21

Wednesday, 24 November 2021

Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict: PM Abiy Ahmed vows to lead from the war front

Ethiopia’s prime minister has said he will go himself to the front line to face rebels who are reported to be inching closer to the capital as civil war rages on.

Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize back in 2019, implied that Ethiopia’s very existence was at stake.

The year-long conflict with rebels from the Tigray region has led to a humanitarian crisis.

Hundreds of thousands are facing famine-like conditions in the north.

Thousands of people have been killed and millions forced from their homes.

“Starting tomorrow, I will mobilise to the front to lead the defence forces,” Mr Abiy said in a post he shared on social media on Monday evening.

“Those who want to be among the Ethiopian children, who will be hailed by history, rise up for your country today. Let’s meet at the front,” he added.

The prime minister has the rank of lieutenant colonel in the army and fought in the 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

He won the Nobel prize in 2019 after finally ending nearly two decades of tension that continued after the war by signing a deal with Eritrea.

Mr Abiy’s announcement on Monday came as Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) forces said they were advancing on at least four fronts, towards Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian government has denied this. The tone of the prime minister’s speech carried both an air of defiance, and, to some, of desperation, reports the BBC’s Africa correspondent Andrew Harding.

The TPLF has dismissed Mr Abiy’s statement with its spokesperson, Getachew Reda, saying that “our forces won’t relent on their inexorable advance towards bringing [Abiy’s] chokehold on our people to an end”.

A rallying cry for Ethiopians

Analysis, Jibat Tamirat, BBC Amharic

Nobody expected the prime minister to say he was ready to go to the front. And now he is talking about the price of freedom being “paid with blood”.

In his call for Ethiopians to meet him at the front, the prime minister was clearly trying to mobilise public opinion but he may also be seeking to encourage new recruits.

For some time, the federal and regional governments have been urging citizens to arm themselves. There has also been the admission from the authorities that the armed forces cannot defeat the TPLF alone.

Now the prime minister appears to want more people to fight with him.

He is not new to the battlefield so his military experience may be useful, but he will also be hoping to boost the army’s morale.

The African Union is leading efforts to find a negotiated end to the fighting, but neither side has committed to talks.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken warned that out-and-out conflict would be “disastrous for the Ethiopian people and also for others in the region”.

At the root of the war is a disagreement between Prime Minister Abiy and the TPLF, which for almost 27 years dominated the whole country, not just Tigray.

Mr Abiy came to power in 2018 and in a whirlwind of reform, in which he liberalised politics and made peace with long-time foe Eritrea, the TPLF was sidelined.

The simmering dispute between the TPLF and Mr Abiy then erupted into war 12 months ago when Tigrayan forces were accused of attacking army bases to steal weapons and the federal government responded.

Kenyatta raises thorny issue of visas with Ramaphosa

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is on a two-day official visit to South Africa, where he has held talks with his host Cyril Ramaphosa on a wide range of issues.

On the thorny issue of visas, which are seen as onerous to Kenyans, President Ramaphosa said he would form a team to look into the issues raised by East African travellers.

Last year South Africa exported $480m ($358m) worth of goods to Kenya, while only importing $20m.

The two presidents resolved to address this trade imbalance and Mr Ramaphosa said any unnecessary trade barriers would be removed. He added that he wanted to see more Kenyan products in South Africa.

Tomorrow President Kenyatta will visit a vaccine manufacturing facility. He has criticised the “hoarding” of vaccines by the West and called for Africa to make its own vaccines.

Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie and Feyisa Lilesa ready to join Tigray war

Ethiopian Olympic heroes Haile Gebrselassie and Feyisa Lilesa say they are ready to go to the front line in the war against rebel forces.

Their announcement comes after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he would go to the front to lead the war.

Tigrayan rebels say they are advancing towards the capital Addis Ababa.

Germany and France have become the latest countries to advise their citizens to leave Ethiopia, amid an escalation in the civil war.

On Tuesday, US envoy to the region Jeffrey Feltman warned that tentative diplomatic progress towards ending the conflict was being jeopardised by alarming developments on the ground.

The rebels earlier this week said that they had taken control of Shewa Robit, a town about 225km (140 miles) north-east of Addis Ababa. There is no independent confirmation of the claim.

Africa Live: Updates from around the continent

With Mr Abiy gone to direct the war effort, his deputy, Demeke Mekonnen Hasse, had taken charge of routine government business, a spokesman was quoted by state-linked media as saying.

Mr Abiy’s announcement has bolstered recruitment for the army, with hundreds of new recruits attending a ceremony, marked by patriotic songs, in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

Earlier, Gebrselassie, 48, was quoted by state television as saying: “I am ready to do whatever is required of me, including going to the front line,” he said.

Gebrselassie is regarded as a legend in Ethiopia, and his comments were seen as an attempt to rally public support behind the war effort.

During his 25-year career as an athlete, he claimed two Olympic gold medals, eight World Championship victories and set 27 world records. He announced his retirement from competitive running in 2015.

Haile Gebrselassie’s career in pictures

Expressing his support for the war, Feyisa, 31, was quoted by the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporation website as saying that he was ready to draw inspiration from the “gallantry of my forefathers” and go to the front line to “save my country”.

The athlete won the marathon silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa making a Oromo protest gesture at the Olympics — Image caption,
Feyisa Lilesa made the protest at Rio 2016 as he took silver in the marathon

He became famous for holding up his crossed wrists as if they were shackled to draw global attention to the crackdown on demonstrators demanding political reforms in Ethiopia.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was the dominant party in government at the time. Following the protests, Mr Abiy became prime minister and the TPLF lost the grip on the country it had held for 27 years.

It later retreated to its stronghold of Tigray, from where it launched a rebellion last November after a huge fall-out with Mr Abiy over his reforms.

The war has created a massive humanitarian crisis, leaving thousands dead, forcing millions from their homes, and several hundred thousand in famine-like conditions as aid agencies battle to get food in war-affected areas.

The African Union is leading efforts to find a negotiated end to the fighting, but neither side has committed to talks.

The TPLF are advancing towards Addis Ababa on the A2 highway, having previously said they had taken Kemise.

Analysis box by Andrew Harding, Africa correspondent

The prospect of some of Ethiopia’s most venerated sporting figures heading to the front lines to fight captures something profound and powerful about the mood in Addis Ababa and beyond.

At a time of intense crisis, many Ethiopians are clearly rallying behind their flag and prime minister, and are keen to play their part in galvanising public support for a military campaign that has suffered undeniable setbacks in recent months, though much remains in dispute in terms of casualty figures and battlefield momentum.

It is clear many people see the military threat posed by the TPLF and their assorted allies as an existential one for Ethiopia.

Added to that is a profound dislike of the TPLF itself, which stems from its decades heading an authoritarian national government. But there is more to it than that.

The prime minister has sought to portray his country as a victim, not just of Tigrayan aggression, but of a vast international conspiracy designed to weaken Ethiopia and punish it for, allegedly, challenging Western colonial interests on the continent.

Western media are portrayed as enthusiastic backers of that conspiracy theory – one which appears to have gained widespread credibility in a country struggling to explain how the rebel group could have made such startling headway.

Gun makers ask US court to dismiss Mexico’s claim for damages

Gun manufacturers have urged a US court to dismiss a Mexican lawsuit that holds them responsible for the violence inflicted by drug cartels.

Mexico is seeking billions in damages, accusing manufacturers of facilitating the illegal trafficking of weapons.

The firms, including Smith & Wesson, argue their sales are constitutionally protected in the US, calling Mexico’s lawsuit a “clash of national values”.

In 2019 alone, some 17,000 murders in Mexico were linked to trafficked arms.

Mexico’s strict rules on arms sales mean they can only be purchased legally at one shop in Mexico City.

Mexico says criminal organisations therefore buy thousands of weapons in the US. A US department found that some 70% of firearms recovered in Mexico between 2014 and 2018 had come from the US.

Mexico’s lawsuit accuses some of the biggest gun manufacturers of knowingly contributing to illegal arms trafficking and fuelling bloodshed through reckless business practices.

It said the companies had sold “ever-more lethal” weapons without “mechanisms of security or traceability”.

On Monday the gun makers, including Glock, Colt’s and Baretta, said in a motion to dismiss that their firearms were purchased lawfully in the US and that the sales were protected by the US constitution.

They argued they had no responsibility for protecting Mexican residents or for the actions of third parties who had bought the guns.

The firms said that while Mexico had acted to eliminate private gun ownership, the US recognised the right to keep and bear arms, and that Mexico could not apply its gun laws across borders.

They said Mexico was seeking to “bankrupt US gun makers” and the lawsuit “threatens America’s constitutional freedoms”.

The lawsuit was filed by Mexico in August in the US state of Massachusetts.

Several Mexican governments have in the past urged the United States to halt illicit trafficking of firearms.

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