NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) 鈥� Ethiopia鈥檚 government on Tuesday summoned all capable citizens to war, urging them to join the country's military to stop resurgent forces from the embattled 鈥渙nce and for all."
The call to arms is an ominous sign that all of Ethiopia鈥檚 110 million people are being drawn into a conflict that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, once declared would be over within weeks. The deadly fighting has now spread beyond Tigray into neighboring regions, and fracturing in Africa鈥檚 second most populous country could destabilize the entire Horn of Africa region.
Tuesday鈥檚 announcement effectively ends the unilateral cease-fire the government declared in June as its from Tigray. It is also almost certain to magnify the toll of a nine-month war that has led to the massacre of thousands, widespread gang rapes and the displacement of entire communities, mostly Tigrayan. Hundreds of thousands of people in Tigray now face in the world鈥檚 worst hunger crisis in a decade.
The prime minister's summons chilled Tigrayans, even those outside Tigray, with the statement calling on all Ethiopians to be 鈥渢he eyes and ears of the country in order to track down and expose spies and agents鈥� of the Tigray forces. Witnesses and lawyers have said already have been detained during the conflict for their identity alone.
鈥淭he kind of war he's calling for is on another level, it's for a total annihilation of Tigray,鈥� said Teklehaymanot G. Weldemichel, whose family remains trapped in the Tigray region. 鈥�'Once and for all' means to finish everyone out."
The expansion of fighting has alarmed some people of other ethnicities, such as the Amhara, who fear that the Tigray forces, now on the offensive, will take revenge.
鈥淲e know the (Tigray People's Liberation Front) is well-armed and the losers would again be the Amhara people,鈥� Demissie Alemayehu, a U.S.-based professor who was born in the Amhara region, said shortly after the prime minister鈥檚 call to war. Without addressing Ethiopia鈥檚 root problems, including a constitution based on ethnic differences, he said, it will be 鈥渧ery difficult to talk about peace.鈥�
The deputy head of the Amhara regional government, Fenta Mandefro, asserted that hundreds of Amhara residents have already been killed. 鈥淢ore people will be endangered if we continue adhering to a cease-fire ignored by the TPLF," he said.
The call to join the military is so far not compulsory, but with access to parts of Ethiopia increasingly blocked, it's difficult to know what kind of pressure is being applied. Spokespeople for Abiy鈥檚 office, the military and the Tigray emergency task force did not respond to questions.
Ethiopia's sharply worded statement came after weeks of mobilization by the federal government, including military recruiting and blood donation drives, as Tigray forces pushed into the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions. On Tuesday, the spokesman for the Tigray forces, Getachew Reda, told The Associated Press that the prime minister 鈥渨ants to send militia to the war front as cannon fodder鈥� and called it unfortunate that 鈥渋ll-trained, ill-equipped people鈥� are now being pressed into the fight.
The war began as a political dispute. Tigray leaders dominated Ethiopia鈥檚 repressive government for nearly three decades, embittering many across the country by helping to put in place a system of ethnic federalism that led to ethnic tensions. When Abiy came to office in 2018, the Tigray leaders were sidelined.
Fighting began in November and took a stunning turn in June when the Tigray forces, strengthened by new recruits among Tigrayans horrified by the war's atrocities, retook much of the region.
The Tigray forces now say they want to secure their long-blockaded region of 6 million people, end the fighting and see the prime minister leave office. Despite the resentment of many in Ethiopia, they are hoping for public support as they vow to press to the capital, Addis Ababa, if needed.
鈥淚f his government topples, that's icing on the cake,鈥� spokesman for the Tigray forces last week.
Like Ethiopia's government, they could use deprivation as means of pressure. Getachew confirmed that the Tigray forces' aim in the Afar region is to control a crucial supply line to the rest of Ethiopia from neighboring Djibouti, on a major shipping lane. He called it 鈥減art of the game,鈥� saying people in Tigray are starving.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not to spite the other parts of Ethiopia,鈥� he said.
Last week the United Nations and the United States sent high-level officials to press Ethiopia鈥檚 government for more access to the Tigray, where telephone, internet and banking services remain cut off. But Ethiopia's government has been angered by the international pressure over Tigray, especially as the fighting spreads.
Some 300,000 people have now been displaced outside Tigray, and this week the U.N. said it was 鈥渆xtremely alarmed鈥� by reports that more than 200 people had been killed in attacks on displaced people in Afar. Ethiopia鈥檚 government blamed the Tigray forces, whose spokesman denied it.
The new statement from the prime minister's office takes aim at some in the international community, blaming them for the 鈥渕achinations of foreign hands鈥� in the war, and alleging without evidence that some had been caught 鈥渞ed-handed supporting the (Tigray forces) under the disguise of humanitarian aid.鈥� The government has suspended the operations of Doctors Without Borders and the Norwegian Refugee Committee, accusing them of 鈥渄isseminating misinformation."
The rhetoric in the government's new statement 鈥渃ould well presage renewed restrictions on the humanitarian relief efforts in Tigray, reversing the already modest progress made in recent weeks,鈥� Aly Verjee, a senior adviser at the United States Institute of Peace, told the AP.
The statement also 鈥渓eaves little room for dialogue, and as we have seen, a war of words does little to end the war on the ground,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen the federal government calls Tigrayan forces terrorists and traitors, it is not likely to encourage restraint on the part of the Tigrayans, who are already militarily ascendant.鈥�
The prime minister last month referred to the Tigray forces as 鈥渨eeds鈥� and 鈥渃ancer,鈥� bringing a swift warning from the U.S. about dehumanizing rhetoric. Since then, Ethiopia's government has repeatedly said it is targeting the Tigray forces alone and the TPLF, which it declared a terrorist group earlier this year.
鈥淭he battle is not with Tigray but with the terrorist forces,鈥� its new statement said.
Cara Anna, The Associated Press
