Ethiopian Parliament abolishedYesterday, Tuesday, the state of emergency imposed in the country last November, which was supposed to extend for 6 months, after the escalation of the threat of the Tigray Liberation Front to the capital, Addis Ababa, in the war that has been going on since November 2020, between the Federal Army and the forces of The front stationed in the Tigray region, in the north of the country.
The termination of the “emergency” came amid African efforts to resolve the conflict through diplomatic means. In turn, Prime Minister Abi Ahmed is trying to vent the months-long international tension against his government, which is accused committing grave breaches for human rights. It also seeks to vent the worsening economic crisis in the country, while no efforts have yet led to a serious dialogue between the parties to the conflict.
The Tigray war witnessed several field turns, reaching the point of threatening the capital by the front and allied forces, before the intervention of several factors that led to its retreat. Among these factors are the army’s alliance with local ethnic forces, especially from the Amhara, and the use of military drones. Several reports have also documented the perpetration of atrocities and massacres against civilians by all parties, in addition to Siege applied imposed on the north of the country.
Parliament has recommended that any suspended work related to the emergency be terminated within a month
In recent years, Ethiopia has witnessed several states of emergency, which were imposed and then re-lifted, especially before Abiy’s accession to the premiership in 2018, which was preceded by bloody protests of the Oromo ethnicity.
Lifting the emergency yesterday, before its official end date, does not indicate an improvement in the political atmosphere, or that the crisis is approaching its end. However, this development reflects the pressures that Abi Ahmed is subjected to and his attempt to improve his image, which was greatly damaged by the war. The Ethiopian Prime Minister faces several problems, including the faltering economy, drought, and the US escalation of sanctions against the perpetrators of atrocities in this war.
Ethiopian parliament lifts state of emergency
And the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday, the lifting of the state of emergency. The ministry wrote in a tweet on “Twitter”, “The Council of Representatives of the People of Ethiopia agreed (yesterday) to lift the state of emergency that was imposed 6 months ago.”
The parliament’s vote came after the Council of Ministers proposed on January 26 to end the emergency, referring to the developments of the conflict, with the retreat of Tigray forces last December, and peace efforts, including the “national reconciliation” launched by Abi Ahmed. A majority in Parliament agreed to lift the emergency, while 63 deputies voted against, and 21 abstained, out of 312 legislators.
The state broadcaster, Fana Broadcasting, reported that “the (parliamentary) investigation committee in the event of emergency was also instructed yesterday, to end any suspended work (related to the emergency) within a month, and to submit a report to a relevant body. It is also mandated Judicial bodies to end cases related to the emergency law within the normal judicial process,” referring to the thousands of war detainees, including human rights defenders, journalists, and activists.
Thousands of Tigrayans were detained under the emergency, according to witnesses, lawyers and rights groups, and many were released after the war turned. Yesterday, he did not immediately announce the date of the release of the rest of the detainees under the emergency, but the task of following up on this was assigned to the judiciary.
Yesterday, before the vote, the Parliament’s Advisory Committee stated that lifting the emergency would help revive the economic and diplomatic situation in the country. Parliament Speaker, Tagise Chavu, said the commission believed that the country’s security threats could now be dealt with through normal law enforcement mechanisms.
This did not prevent some members of the commission from raising concerns about the threats posed by the Tigray Liberation Front and its allied Oromo Liberation Army, which were fighting the federal army and its allies.
The situation is inflamed in the Afar region
The lifting of the emergency is not linked to any final ceasefire. According to the parliament speaker, the security threats in Amhara, Afar, Benishangul Gumuz, Gambella and Weliga regions in Oromia region will be dealt with by a new “corrective measure”.
The ongoing battles in the Afar region impede the arrival of food aid to Tigray
Although the war has subsided in several regions, especially in the regions of Tigray and Amhara, fears are still present in the Afar region, in the north-east of the country. The government of Afar region said last week that more than 300,000 citizens of the region had been displaced since last December, accusing Tigray forces of committing massacres against civilians and widespread looting.
The United Nations says the battles in Afar are hampering the access of food aid to Tigray, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have reached the point of starvation. In turn, the head of the US Agency for International Development, Samantha Power, stated on Twitter last Friday that “in northern Ethiopia, the agency provides aid to the people of Afar and Amhara.
The organization noted that in Tigray, food, fuel, cash, and other necessities, running outBecause humanitarian convoys are unable to reach people in need. It called on all parties to the conflict to allow unconditional aid access.
African mediation and US sanctions
The African mediation is still going on to resolve the Ethiopian crisis, amid indications of the possibility of a breach in terms of improving the relationship between Addis Ababa and Tigray region. On January 19, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, expressed his hope that there would be a possibility to open a loophole for dialogue and end the conflict, which has left millions On the brink of starvation.
Guterres said that he was briefed by the African Union, to whom the main task of mediating the conflict was left, about the developments of this mediation, considering that “there is a real opportunity to resolve the crisis in a political and diplomatic way.”
Last weekend, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union’s envoy for the Horn of Africa, handed the Union Peace and Security Committee a road map to end the conflict in Ethiopia over the Tigray crisis.
Obasanjo talked about the efforts made so far for this goal, including the establishment of a committee in the country for national dialogue, but he also called for the release of all detainees, solving the dilemma of humanitarian access, improving the standard of living, and committing to dialogue as the only way to resolve.
For its part, the House of Representatives of the US Congress is facing legislation to impose sanctions on individuals in Ethiopia, who are involved in committing human rights violations, obstructing the delivery of aid, or taking other actions that may exacerbate the crisis. The legislation will also punish anyone involved in training, transferring weapons, or providing disqualification to one of the parties to the conflict.
The law on “Stability, Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia” was voted last week in the Foreign Relations Committee in the House of Representatives, and it will soon be presented to a vote in the House, and the Senate is also studying a similar law.
The law would suspend financial aid to the Ethiopian government, until humanitarian breakthroughs are achieved. It will also impose on Washington to prevent Ethiopia and Eritrea, which supported Abiy in the war, from obtaining loans from international agencies, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
(Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Associated Press, Archyde.com, AFP)