Under-covered CONFLICT in ETHIOPIA /// Tigray Crisis Explained

Discussion with Professor Adnan Husain, Chairman of Religious studies at Queens University in Kingston Ontario, and Dr. Awet Weldemichael, an african historian specializing in the history of the horn of Africa in particular, on the current conflict in Ethiopia. Overview of Ethiopian history and politics and the current Tigray crisis.

(from Episode 1333)

#ethiopia #ethiopiannews #ethiopianconflict #hornofafrica #africanhistory #drawetweldemichael #TPLF #EPRDF #ethiopianhistory #ethiopianpolitics #Adnanhussain #guerillahistory #majlispodcast #news #comedy #politics #leftyfromwayback #davidfeldmanshow

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Background on issue:

AFDERA, Ethiopia, March 30 (Reuters) - A new front in Ethiopia's war in the Afar region is imperilling efforts to get enemies to sit down to peace talks, three regional officials and three diplomats said, and a ceasefire declared last week may have been breached in some places.

The flare-up of violence in Afar this year came after fighting in the neighbouring regions of Tigray and Amhara had ground to a stalemate and as moves were gathering pace to get the government in Addis Ababa and Tigrayan rebels to agree to peace negotiations.

"There cannot be peace in Ethiopia while there is fighting in Afar," said Mussa Ibrahim, a clan leader in Erepti, one of six districts in Afar currently occupied by Tigrayan forces.

On Thursday, Ethiopia announced a unilateral ceasefire, the second to be called in a 16-month conflict that has displaced millions of people and plunged hundreds of thousands into famine conditions.

But Afar police commissioner Ahmed Harif told Reuters on Monday that fighting was ongoing in two of the six districts occupied by Tigrayan fighters, and there was a "significant" buildup of Tigrayan forces along the border.

Two humanitarian workers confirmed the fighting.

Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which is battling the government, denied there were clashes in those areas. He did not comment on accusations of a military buildup....

On a trip to Afar in late February, Reuters saw two refugee camps overflowing with desperate families.

Malnutrition is also rising in the region, said the U.N. World Food Programme, and Afdera's camps are short of water, shelter and food. Still people flood in.

Mohammed Hussein at the Afar aid office said the region was being overlooked by international aid groups.

"We need food, emergency shelter, water," he said. "The international humanitarian community ... has very little awareness or understanding about the Afar situation."

The U.N.'s humanitarian arm OCHA said aid cannot reach some areas of the region due to fighting, and the whole effort is hampered by a lack of funds, supplies and partners.

A fifth of health facilities across Afar are not functional, OCHA said in a Feb. 24 report, because they are inaccessible or have been looted or destroyed.

Doctors at Dubti Referral Hospital, the region's biggest located around 150 km south of Afdera, told Reuters it was running out of drugs and space as wounded and malnourished patients arrive.

The hospital's chief executive officer Mohammed Yusuf said that around 300 people injured in the violence, including women and children, had arrived since January.

Cases of children wounded by unexploded ordnance or landmines have jumped from none to around 25 cases per week for the past two months, according to Tamer Ibrahim, head nurse for the surgical unit. Reuters saw medical records for 22 of these cases.

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