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sarcasm
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Ethiopia Is Turning Into Yugoslavia (Watch Jerusalem)

Post by sarcasm » 08 May 2021, 09:41

Ethiopia Is Turning Into Yugoslavia

Could ethnic anarchy come to the Horn of Africa?

By Mihailo S. Zekic • May 7

Fighting broke out between the Amhara and Oromo ethnic groups in Ethiopia last month, Al Jazeera reported. As of April 25, the Ethiopian government estimates the death toll in the Amhara region may be as high as 200. The Oromo are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group at roughly 35 percent of the population. The Amhara are the second-largest, comprising about 28 percent of the population.

This is in the context of the escalating war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed deployed troops last autumn to snuff out opposition from the Tigray ethnic group. The Tigray are Ethiopia’s third-largest ethnic group and have sizable defense forces of their own. They held sway over Ethiopian politics for over 20 years after Ethiopia’s Communist regime was overthrown in the 1990s. This is despite the Tigray comprising only 7 percent of Ethiopia’s population. When Abiy, an ethnic Oromo, came into power in 2018, the Tigray felt their hold on power was threatened. Abiy has since been trying to “show the Tigray their place.”

While the conflict with the Tigray was substantial, it was also relatively localized. It now appears that the conflict is spreading. And what was a government crackdown on one ethnic group with an oversized level of influence in the country is now turning into an ethnic civil war.

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