Ethiopia in crisis: State of emergency declared in opposition Tigray region

ADDIS ABABA – The government of Ethiopia has declared a state of emergency in the opposition region of Tigray, hours after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered troops to attack the regional state after saying TPLF forces were attacking the army there.

A statement issued by Abiy’s office said the Federal Council of Ministers made the declaration “recognizing that illegal and violent activities within the National Regional State of Tigray are endangering the constitution and constitutional order.”

It followed an announcement by Abiy on social media that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) “has attacked a military camp” in the northern region, and “tried to loot” military assets.

The attack resulted in “many martyrs, injuries and property damage”, Abiy said later in a five-minute address on state television.

“Our defence forces… have been ordered to carry out their mission to save the country. The final point of the red line has been crossed. Force is being used as the last measure to save the people and the country,” he said in an earlier post on Facebook and Twitter.

It was not immediately clear what form the federal military response might take, or what the state of emergency declaration will entail.

But analysts and diplomats have been warning for weeks that the standoff between the federal government and the TPLF could spill over into violence.

“This war is the worst possible outcome of the tensions that have been brewing,” said William Davison, an analyst with International Crisis Group.

“Given Tigray’s relatively strong security position, the conflict may well be protracted and disastrous,” he said, adding it could send “shockwaves” into the wider Horn of Africa region.

Internet monitoring group Netblocks reported that internet appeared to have been cut in Tigray as of one am (2200 GMT Tuesday).

Abiy said on state TV that “traitorous forces” had turned on the military in the regional capital, Mekele, and the town of Dansha in western Tigray.

The assault on Dansha was “repelled” by security forces from Amhara region, which borders Tigray to the south, he added.

A separate statement from Abiy’s office accused the TPLF of dressing its soldiers in uniforms resembling those of the army of neighbouring Eritrea to “implicate the Eritrean government in false claims of aggression against the people of Tigray.”

Tigray’s government said on regional state media that leadership and rank-and-file soldiers from the military’s Northern Command, based in Mekele, “have decided to stand with the Tigray people and the regional government”.

The statement also said Tigray had closed its airspace.

It was not possible to immediately corroborate the two sides’ statements.