Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s talk of uprooting “the cancer” or “weed” in reference to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) not only shocked the world for its genocidal tone, but it also signalled that dialogue was no longer on the table.
While PM Abiy vows total annihilation of the TPLF — now labelled a terror group by Addis Ababa — militia and regional forces from around the country are being sent to the battlefront, or readying themselves to defend their territories. Leaders of Sidama, Benshangul-Gumuz, Afar, Somalia and Oromia regional states were all aligning themselves with the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and the Amhara militia to resume battle.
