ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sacked his army chief, head of intelligence and foreign minister on Sunday, as the military continued a five-day old offensive in the restive Tigray region with a new round of air strikes.
Abiy announced a raft of dismissals on Sunday as the conflict escalated and is pushing the country towards civil war.
His office announced the changes on his twitter feed, giving no reasons for the changes.
Nine million people risk displacement from the escalating conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the United Nations said, warning that the government’s declaration of a state of emergency was blocking food and other aid.
Abiy is pursuing a military campaign he announced on Wednesday, despite international pleas for dialogue with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rather than risk civil war. Tigrayans dominated Ethiopian politics for decades until Abiy took office in 2018 and are fighting his efforts to reduce their influence.
(Additional reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa, Michelle Nichols in New York, Nazanine Moshiri in Nairobi and Stephen Jewkes in Rome; Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by George Obulutsa, Raissa Kasolowsky and Susan Fenton)
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