Ethiopian leader orders military action after ‘line crossed’ in defiant region

ETHIOPIA’S Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister has ordered the military to confront the country’s Tigray regional government after he accused it of carrying out a deadly attack on a military base.

And Abiy Ahmed declared “the last red line has been crossed” after months of alleged incitement.

The statement by Mr Ahmed’s office, and the reported overnight attack by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, raised concerns one of Africa’s most powerful countries could be plunged into war.

That would send a shockwave through one of the world’s most turbulent regions, the Horn of Africa, where Ethiopia’s neighbours include Somalia and Sudan.

The US issued a statement urging “an immediate de-escalation of the current situation in Tigray”.

Addressing the nation on TV, Mr Abiy announced “several martyrs” in the attack in Mekele, Tigray’s capital, and Dansha town. He said “the end is near” for the regional force, based in Ethiopia’s most sensitive region which neighbours Eritrea. The two countries made peace in 2018 after a long border war.

Fighting continued yesterday, and the TPLF claimed it had captured and killed Ethiopian army officers, a government statement said later.

The TPLF was the dominant part of Ethiopia’s governing coalition before Mr Abiy took office in 2018 and announced sweeping political reforms that won him the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

Those reforms opened up old ethnic and other grievances. The TPLF, feeling marginalised, left the coalition last year but remains a strong military force, observers say.

A statement on Tigray TV accused the federal government of deploying troops to “invade Tigray to cow the people of Tigray into submission by force”.

It banned movement by Ethiopia’s military in Tigray and warned of “proportional measures” for any damage to people or property.