Rebel advance to within 200 miles of Ethiopia's capital puts the city and wider region on edge

[Zorro]

NAIROBI — After a year of grinding conflict in Ethiopia’s mountainous north, thousands of opposition forces this week pushed their way to within 200 miles of the capital Addis Ababa, forcing the city’s residents to gird for the possibility that the war will soon be on their doorsteps and triggering a cascade of frantic preparations across the region.

The Ethiopian government has called the fight against former government soldiers and volunteers from the country’s Tigray region an “existential war,” and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago, has vowed to “bury this enemy with our blood and bones.”

Abiy declared a state of emergency that allows for conscription of “any military age citizen who has weapons.” The mayor called on residents to take up arms to secure their neighborhoods. The military asked veterans to reenlist. The U.S. Embassy urged its citizens Friday to leave the country “as soon as possible.” Later Friday, the U.N. Security Council called for an end to the conflict and expressed concern about the impact on “the stability of the country and the wider region.”



Police in Addis Ababa have begun going door to door, searching for Tigrayans who may be sympathetic to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, which is leading the rebel offensive and whose members the government considers secessionist terrorists. The TPLF dominated the country’s politics for three decades before Abiy took power, and are deeply resented by many of Ethiopia’s non-Tigrayans.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/06/ethiopia-addis-ababa-tplf/

[texasfiddler]

1. I have close friends who are in the capital who work for USAID

They are getting ready to leave. Hopefully as soon as possible.

[Klaralven]

2. Ethiopia is a multi-cultural empire, rather than a nation

[Zorro]

3. Tigrayans may be wanting to federate with neighboring Eritrea

They share a lot in common.

[DFW]

4. It would make sense for them strategically.

Gaining independence from Ethiopia would make them a poor, landlocked nation. Joining Eritrea in a federation would give them a seaport, facilitating trade, which Ethiopia would certainly block through its territory.

A lot of Tigrays live abroad, however, and send a lot of desperately needed revenue back home. If they joined politically and economically with Eritrea, they would fall into the same unhappy tax position as citizens of two countries left on earth that do NOT recognize residence-based taxation. Eritrea is one of them. That means that Eritreans must file tax returns not only in their country of residence, but also back home in Eritrea, a cumbersome burden to their citizens working abroad. Only two countries left in the world burden their citizens with that policy, and Eritrea is one of them. That is not a policy which offers advantages to the Tigrays if they see a full economic union with Eritrea. They would be better off working out a deal for free access to the port of Asmara unless and until Eritrea adopts residence-based taxation, leaving just one country left on earth that does not recognize it.

[malaise]

5. As always the real issue is who is financing this mess

Be very wary of folks crawling out in Western countries speaking about alliances.
Nothing in the Western press is any more truthful than the lies about Iraq. Eff all the plunderers across this planet. That is all

[malaise]

6. As always the real issue is who is financing this mess

Be very wary of folks crawling out in Western countries speaking about alliances.
Nothing in the Western press is any more truthful than the lies about Iraq. Eff all the plunderers across this planet. That is all