Ethiopia’s Tigray region is caught between past conflict and fears of another
MEKELE, Ethiopia (AP) — Gebreegziabher Berehe stopped waiting for tourists to arrive as many worried about a return to war.
Tour guide too Ethiopia He says his reservations for the northern Tigray region are sold out, ATMs in the city of Mekele are empty, and he is considering leaving a country he can no longer live in.
“If the war breaks out again, I think the situation will be even worse than before,” said 37-year-old Berehe. “My colleagues and I are facing serious economic and moral crises before we even hear the gunshot.”
While there is a tense calm in Mekele, the capital of the region, tension is rising again between local authorities and the Ethiopian government in the federal capital Addis Ababa.
recent conflict
Tigray is preparing for the possibility of renewed conflict after the parties sign the agreement peace agreement In November 2022, fighting ended that killed thousands of people as Ethiopian government troops backed by allied forces from neighboring Eritrea battled Tigrayan forces.
Now Tigray’s rulers accuse Ethiopian federal authorities of violating that agreement with drone strikes. At the same time, the Ethiopian government accuses Eritrea of taking action to mobilize and finance armed groups in Tigray, with which it shares a border.
In the feared scenario, Eritrea would cooperate with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the group that rules Tigray, in armed conflict against Ethiopian forces.
The conflict, which ended in 2022, was brutal, with allegations of widespread sexual violence and the restriction of food as a weapon of war.
Many Mekele residents are looking for opportunities to escape new conflict whenever they can, recalling the communications blackout and travel restrictions the Ethiopian government imposed on the region during the conflict.
Changing alliances
Some observers see a possible war trigger in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s stance strong stance on landlocked Ethiopia’s efforts to regain Red Sea access via Eritrea, which was lost when Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after decades of guerrilla warfare.
Abiy told lawmakers earlier this month that the Red Sea and Ethiopia “cannot remain apart forever.” Eritrean government spokesman Yemane Gebremeskel described Abiy’s ambition as a “delusional disorder” in a statement to The Associated Press.
Fearing a military attack on the port of Assab, Eritrea responded by warming to the leaders of its former rivals Tigray, although it rejected any alliance. This caused concern in Addis Ababa, where the Ethiopian government called in its reserve forces.
Since taking office in 2018, Abiy has sought to cultivate a global image of Ethiopia as a rising power. However, a few people backed down. conflicts over the years.
While United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on all parties to act with restraint, the European Union and the United Kingdom, which warned its citizens not to travel to the region, echoed this.
National carrier Ethiopian Airlines on January 29 Flights to Tigray canceled It follows clashes between federal troops and Tigrayan forces in the Tselemti region, which is part of a disputed territory between Tigray and the neighboring Amhara region. The airline resumed flights on February 3.
The violence was followed by drone strikes that killed one person and injured another. Tigrayan officials accused Ethiopian forces of carrying out the attack. The Ethiopian military has not publicly responded to the allegation.
‘All we can do is pray’
The incidents have affected travel to Tigray, whose ancient rock-hewn churches and striking highland landscapes make tourism a rare but vital source of foreign currency and employment.
While Mekele business owners like Berehe worry about loss of income, Tigray farmers like Johannes Tesfay are worried.
Tesfay lives in Debretsion, north of Mekele; Here his family grows peppers, potatoes and onions, trampling farmland and destroying equipment at the foot of the mountain range that Eritrean troops used to cross into Ethiopia during the last conflict.
Supply chain disruptions due to renewed tensions have seriously worried him.
“There is no fuel for my irrigation pumps, no fertilizer and almost no transportation for buyers to bring produce to market,” he said.
When asked what he would do if conflict returned to the region, Tesfay looked at the mountains and said: “What can we do? All we can do is pray. We need the help of the global community to achieve some kind of compromise between all the powers.”
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