Tag: Horn of Africa

November 16, 2020 (Thessherald)–The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed grave concern and urged the Ethiopian federal government and the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to end the ongoing military operations in the Tigray region and enter into a meaningful dialogue.

“We are calling on all the sides to exercise restraint … We hope that all the problems will be settled, taking into consideration the need to maintain stability, territorial integrity and unity of Ethiopia, this multinational and multiconfessional country … We assume that the central authorities, the government in Addis Ababa, will find proper methods to work with different regions, including Tigray, to secure civilian peace in the country,” said Bogdanov Mikhail Leonidovich, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

Russia

The Russian government stressed the need to bring the warring parties to the negotiating table as the only viable solution to end the armed conflict in Ethiopia.

“Russia has always advocated stability in Ethiopia,” the diplomat pointed out.

“Moscow maintains contact with the Ethiopian authorities, including the ambassador in Russia,” Bogdanov added.

At the start of November, the Ethiopian government accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of attacking a federal military base and launched an offensive in the Tigray Region.

Last week, the Ethiopian Parliament approved the establishment of a provisional government in Tigray.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said on Twitter that law enforcement operations in Tigray were proceeding as planned and that they would cease only when the “criminal junta” is disarmed.

The TPLF has been in opposition to the incumbent government. In September, it asked the cabinet to hold local elections, earlier postponed over COVID-19. After being rejected, the party organised elections on its own which the central government never recognised as legitimate.