Ethiopia is on the brink of disaster. With rebel forces threatening to march on the capital, this does not augur well for the huge country of more than 110 million people and the entire Horn of Africa region.
To Ethiopia’s immediate west, another conflict is raging, as the Sudanese military leaders have ejected civilians from their coalition government. This has sparked protests in Khartoum both in support of and against the military.
In Ethiopia, a deadly armed conflict, which started in the Tigray region a year ago, is degenerating into a full-scale war. There is even talk by the rebels that they have formed a political and military coalition, creating an interim government to replace Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who not long ago was feted as a progressive leader. The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who made peace with bitter enemy Eritrea, ending a 20-year hostility, was cited for his efforts to help “achieve peace and international co-operation”.
The 15 members of the UN Security Council have urged all the parties “to put an end to hostilities and to negotiate a lasting ceasefire”. Also concerned about Ethiopia’s slide into chaos are Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, President Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta and Igad executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu. Igad has reiterated its call for the cessation of hostilities and an immediate ceasefire.
A timely intervention is President Museveni’s call for an East African leaders’ meeting on November 16 to discuss the conflict. President Kenyatta has appealed to the Ethiopian Government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front to stop the fighting and end the suffering of their people.
The leaders need to genuinely negotiate and thrash out their differences in the best interest of their country, whose recent stellar economic development is now under grave threat. War will not solve Ethiopia’s complex problems.