By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@Reuters.
Government forces were going to door to door in the Ethiopian capital, rounding up ethnic Tigrayans, members of the same ethnic group as the rebels closing in.
A wave of fear spread across the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Thursday as the authorities accelerated their campaign against members of a once-powerful ethnic group accused of sympathizing with rebels now pressing toward the city.
The sweeping measures targeting Tigrayans, from the same ethnic group as fighters who have been locked in civil war with Ethiopian government forces for the past year, raised concerns that the stage has been set for bursts of ethnically motivated violence.
“The situation is very intense and really frightening,” Hailu, an ethnic Tigrayan detained earlier this year, during a previous wave of arrests, said by phone. He did not give his full name to avoid being targeted.
The United States envoy to the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, led an international scramble to try to stop the violence and bring Ethiopia’s warring parties to the table. There were few signs it might succeed.
Feltman landed in Addis Ababa for talks with the embattled Ethiopian premier, Abiy Ahmed, who announced a state of emergency granting him draconian powers on Wednesday. He spoke in such inflammatory language that Facebook deleted one of his posts on Thursday.
Undeterred, Abiy’s government shot back with a similarly stark statement later in the day, also on Facebook. “A rat that strays far from its hole is nearer to its death,” said the statement, referring to Tigrayan leaders and their supporters.
Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, was once seen as a bright and promising young leader. Now he finds his very future as leader in doubt.
The American envoy, Feltman, was backed by regional African leaders who, although previously reluctant to get involved in the Ethiopian conflict, are now openly alarmed at the prospect of an all-out collapse in Africa’s second-most-populous nation.
The fighting must stop!” President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya said in a statement, reflecting fears in his country that a widening conflict in Ethiopia could mean a flood of refugees streaming across its borders.
Instead, the fighting was spreading. A leader with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said its fighters had reached a town about 120 miles northeast of Addis Ababa, where they were locked in battle with Ethiopian forces.
Source:Fullview and News Agencies.