Political Crisis In Ethiopia 2020 – Burning Issues

Table of Contents

The News

Ethiopia is on the brink of a civil war after Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed started a military operation in the rebellious Tigray region which could spill out of control given the underlying complexities of the conflict.
The domestic conflict in Ethiopia comes after several smaller conflicts that have been festering for months that could now spiral and impact the Horn of Africa region at large.

TPLF – Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front
- The TPLF was founded in 1975 as a resistance army of the Tigrayan people against the military dictatorship, which was called Derg. The leftist Derg remained in power till it was ousted by the armed rebels in 1991.
- TPLF leader Meles Zenawi became the first elected Prime Minister in 1995.
  - Zenawi put together Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)
  - Zenawi is largely seen as the architect of the country’s ethno-federal system and remained in power till 2012.
  - EPRDF contained regional political parties such as the Amhara Democratic Party, the Oromo Democratic Party and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement but the TPLF remained the dominant political force.

If the conflict between the Ethiopian federal government and Tigray authorities exacerbates, it might spill over to neighbouring countries in the Horn of Africa.