ADDIS ABABA: Conflict between the Ethiopian army and rebels in the country’s most populated region is having “devastating consequences” on civilians, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned on Thursday.
Africa’s second most populous country, home to some 130 million inhabitants, is being torn apart by several armed conflicts.
Oromia, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa, has seen clashes since 2018 between federal forces and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), with peace talks failing to yield progress.
Authorities have classified the OLA as a “terrorist organization,” but it claims to be fighting for the rights of the region’s approximately 40 million inhabitants.
“The ongoing conflict in the Oromia region is having a devastating effect on many communities, particularly those in remote areas,” the ICRC in Ethiopia said in a statement.
“Oromia doesn’t make the headlines, yet civilians continue to be deeply affected by violence, with many people killed or injured and limited help coming from outside the region,” it warned.
“Many communities live on either side of a front line, or in places where there are ever-changing front lines, meaning that frequent skirmishes make movements particularly difficult and dangerous,” it added, saying that it prevented access to life-saving health care.
International monitors in 2018 estimated the OLA’s strength at a few thousand men but believe numbers have significantly increased in recent years.
Despite this, they believe it remains insufficiently armed and organized to pose a real threat to the Ethiopian government.
In November, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced it was investigating the deaths of 48 people, including a district official, in an attack attributed to the OLA.
While Ethiopia signed a peace deal to end a deadly war between federal and regional forces in northern Tigray in 2022, conflicts continue to roil the sprawling nation.
In the Amhara region, the second most populous, federal authorities have been grappling with the Fano People’s Militia insurgency for over a year.
Civilians face ‘devastating’ impact of Ethiopia’s Oromia conflict: ICRC
https://arab.news/wx39w
Civilians face ‘devastating’ impact of Ethiopia’s Oromia conflict: ICRC
- While Ethiopia signed a peace deal to end a deadly war between federal and regional forces in northern Tigray in 2022, conflicts continue to roil the sprawling nation
Blair dropped from Gaza ‘peace board’ after Arab objections
- Former UK PM was viewed with hostility over role in Iraq War
- He reportedly met Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans
LONDON: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been withdrawn from the US-led Gaza “peace council” following objections by Arab and Muslim countries, The Guardian reported.
US President Donald Trump has said he would chair the council. Blair was long floated for a prominent role in the administration, but has now been quietly dropped, according to the Financial Times.
Blair had been lobbying for a position in the postwar council and oversaw a plan for Gaza from his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that involved Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Supporters of the former British leader cited his role in the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of conflict and violence in Northern Ireland.
His detractors, however, highlighted his former position as representative of the Middle East Quartet, made up of the UN, EU, Russia and US, which aimed to bring about peace in the Middle East.
Furthermore, Blair’s involvement in the Iraq War is viewed with hostility across the Arab world.
After Trump revealed his 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in September, Blair was the only figure publicly named as taking a potential role in the postwar peace council.
The US president supported his appointment and labeled him a “very good man.”
A source told the Financial Times that Blair’s involvement was backed by the US and Israel.
“The Americans like him and the Israelis like him,” the person said.
The US plan for Gaza was criticized in some quarters for proposing a separate Gaza framework that did not include the West Bank, stoking fears that the occupied Palestinian territories would become separate polities indefinitely.
Trump said in October: “I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody.”
Blair is reported to have held an unpublicized meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans.
His office declined to comment to The Guardian, but an ally said the former prime minister would not be sitting on Gaza’s “board of peace.”
