Ethiopia’s government on Tuesday summoned “all capable" citizens to war, urging them to join the military and stop resurgent forces from the embattled Tigray region "once and for all," per the AP. The Tigray forces continue to make advances in a war that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, once declared would be over within weeks. The developments put Africa's second-most populous country—the population is 110 million—in further risk of fracturing at the heart of the Horn of Africa region. Ethiopia's sharply worded statement came after weeks of mobilization by the federal government, including military recruiting and blood-donation drives, as rebels moved beyond Tigray and into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.
The Tigray forces say they want to secure their own region of 6 million people, end the fighting, and see the prime minister leave office. “If his government topples, that's icing on the cake,” spokesman Getachew Reda told the AP last week. On Tuesday, Getachew said the prime minister "wants to send militia to the war front as cannon fodder" and called it unfortunate that "ill-trained, ill-equipped people" are now being pressed into the fight. Tigray leaders dominated Ethiopia's 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. Now the Tigray forces, whose leaders were sidelined when Abiy came to office, are hoping for public support as they vow to press to the capital, Addis Ababa, if needed.
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