Protests erupted across Ethiopia’s second-largest state over a plan by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration to disband regional special forces and merge them with the national army.
(Bloomberg) — Protests erupted across Ethiopia’s second-largest state over a plan by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration to disband regional special forces and merge them with the national army.
Roads across the Amhara region have been blocked by demonstrators since Sunday, including the main arterial route leading to the city of Debre Berhan, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. Two employees of the Catholic Relief Services were killed while driving through the area on April 9, the aid agency said in a statement.
The Amhara Special Forces, among the dozen groups that the government is seeking to disband, has become more powerful in recent years after recruiting heavily to join government troops in the battle against dissidents forces from Tigray in a two-year conflict. The latest unrest reflects increasing Amhara opposition to Abiy, partly because of his reconciliation with Tigray, said Will Davison, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.
“While it’s understandable that the federal government wants to rein in regional paramilitaries, this move came when some Amhara actors already felt threatened,” he said. “It’s likely that federal power will overcome any resistance, but the short-term trend is likely to be more opposition and disorder in Amhara region.”
In several urban areas across the region, many people stayed at home and businesses were closed on Tuesday as protesters blocked roads and burned tires, according to residents who asked not to be identified for fear of government reprisals. At the weekend, shooting was heard at Kobo town on the road to the Tigray region, a northern province that ended a two-year civil war with federal government troops in November.
Read more: As One Conflict in Ethiopia Peters Out Another Flares Up
After protests erupted on April 7, Yilkal Kefale, president of the Amhara region, gave a briefing Sunday in which he stressed that the dismantling of special forces units would apply to all regions across Ethiopia, and not only his state. Abiy’s Prosperity Party said in a statement on Monday that opposition party members and their leaders were trying to present this decision as one specific to only the Amhara region, and warned them against making the situation worse.
The conflict between Tigray fighters and federal troops cost Ethiopia its reputation as one of Africa’s hottest investment destinations and saw the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund withhold funding in 2021 after reports of human-rights abuses. Officials from the IMF have recently conducted a scoping mission aimed at evaluating the possibility of implementing a new program for the country.
The November cease-fire fueled expectations that the government will get plans to restructure its $30 billion of debt back on track. The nation’s $1 billion of eurobonds have rallied since then to 70.68 cents on the dollar, compared with 53.93 cents on the day the peace deal was signed.
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