Ethiopia Federal Troops Take Control Of Mekele. End Of Tigray Conflict?

Africa | Ethiopia November 29, 2020

Government of Ethiopia announced on November 28, 2020 that its troops have taken full control of Tigray’s capital Mekele. As such, the government continued, its military operation in the region state has been completed although the troops will keep on searching for fleeing rebel troops or what it calls terrorists, that belong to Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). On November 26, 2020, the Government of Ethiopia announced it was launching the final phase of its military operation in Tigray after a ultimatum it had given TPDF to surrender expired on November 25, 2020.

Notwithstanding, however, while the Government of Ethiopia has declared total attainment of its military goals in Tigray hence an end to the armed conflict in the region state, TPLF have reportedly vowed to keep on fighting federal troops, probably as guerrillas. This raises crucial question about whether the conflict is over as claimed by the federal government.

So far, it is unclear what the drivers of the Tigray armed conflict are.

On the one hand, it looks as if some sort of power struggle between state and federal authorities was the main cause of the conflict at least at the beginning, after the federal government rejected and nullified general elections held by Tigray in September 2020.

On the other hand, separatist forces of disintegration and cessation similar to those that triggered the eventual independence of Eritrea and South Sudan as well as the bloody civil wars in Nigeria and Angola, can not be ruled out.

If the latter scenario is correct, then the Tigray armed conflict may be a lot more complex than what the Government of Ethiopia believes, and may therefore be far from over!

_________________

© 2015 - 2020 Africauptodate. All Rights Reserved