Blackouts skyrocket amid global political unrest

Blackouts skyrocket amid global political unrest series#

In March 2021, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced a joint probe with the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate alleged serious abuses and rights violations in Tigray, although the impartiality of the joint probe has been drawn into question. These reports have raised the question of accountability for serious rights violations. The United States has characterized the conflict as ethnic cleansing against Tigrayans, and harrowing reports have documented the prevalence of mass atrocities in the conflict, including troops and members of militias perpetrating rape and sexual violence against women and girls in particular. Eritrean troops have shown no sign of leaving, despite international pressure. The TPLF and Eritrea have a history of hostile relations: Eritrea fought a brutal, decade-long war of independence against Ethiopia in the 1980s and 1990s, when the TPLF held power in EthiopiaвЂ™s ruling coalition.

Eritrean forces also joined the side of the Ethiopian government early in the conflict, and after months of denying their presence, in spring 2021 Abiy admitted that Eritrean troops were in Tigray. A communications blackout near the beginning of the conflict shuttered coverage of the offensive, but the media has since been able to paint a fuller picture of the extent of the atrocities that have been committed in Tigray through firsthand witness accounts, video clips, and other testimony.Д®ven as the offensive quickly escalated into a much broader war, with civilians facing the brunt of the violence, AbiyвЂ™s government rejected calls for mediation.

However, troops began committing widespread atrocities from the start of the offensive against those they identified as Tigray civilians. In advance of the elections, Tigray leaders warned that intervention from the federal government would be considered a вЂњdeclaration of war.вЂќ Abiy condemned the Tigray regional elections, accused the TPLF of attacking a military camp and looting federal military assets, and then declared a six-month state of emergency and swiftly deployed troops to Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, in an offensive ostensibly targeting rebel TPLF leaders.ДЄbiy first framed the Ethiopian governmentвЂ™s Mekelle offensive-which began in November 2020-as a targeted operation against regional leaders in Tigray after failed cease-fire negotiations. In September 2020, following multiple delays in parliamentary elections and the extension of AbiyвЂ™s presidential term, the Tigray State Council defied the federal government and held regional elections, in which TPLF candidates won a majority of seats.

However, internal political friction between the TPLF and the government intensified during AbiyвЂ™s initial tenure, as the internationally lauded liberal reforms enacted by AbiyвЂ™s government marginalized the TPLF. AbiyвЂ™s ascent to power was buttressed by his visions of an ethnically harmonious, unified Ethiopia and initially appeared to be a critical change of course from the divisive policies of the TPLF-dominated ruling coalition.

Blackouts skyrocket amid global political unrest series#

While in power, the TPLF had implemented a series of political reforms that marginalized other ethnic groups and consolidated the central government. In 2018, AbiyвЂ™s national election win signaled a transfer of power from the decades-long rule of the Tigray PeopleвЂ™s Liberation Front (TPLF). Prior to current AbiyвЂ™s ascension to power in 2018, the state dominated politics at the national level, with most of EthiopiaвЂ™s ruling coalition comprised of leaders from the Tigray PeopleвЂ™s Liberation Front (TPLF). Tigray is one of ten regional states located in northern Ethiopia, sharing a border with Eritrea to the north and Sudan to the west.