The Ethiopian intelligence said that it had thwarted what it called a plot to thwart the sixth general elections scheduled for next month and to cause chaos in the country, while the Ethiopian Parliament unanimously approved the Cabinet’s decision to designate the Tigray Region Liberation Front and the “Ong Cheni” group as terrorist organizations.
And Ethiopian intelligence added - in a statement - that it had arrested two former officers and 15 other people involved in planning the plot, she said.
She explained that secret groups inside and outside the country were in contact with members and leaders of government structures in order to implement the plot, according to the statement.
Parliamentary elections were scheduled to take place in Ethiopia in August 2020, but were postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Since then, conflicts have erupted in the Tigray region, which will not be covered by the elections, and in other regions.
Classification of two groups
In a separate context, the Ethiopian Parliament unanimously approved the Cabinet’s decision to classify the "Tigrayan Liberation Front" and the "Aung Cheni" group as terrorist organizations, after the cabinet approved this classification on May 1 this year.
A government statement said that the two organizations "played a role in organizing, financing, training and providing support for the attacks on civilians during the past three years, and that these attacks have become an existential threat to the state."
The Federal Council - which is the second chamber of the Ethiopian Parliament - passed a law last November to form an interim government for the Tigray region, after the government's law enforcement operation against the Tigrayan Liberation Front last December.
Previous campaigns
The Ethiopian government launched a security campaign against "Ong Chen", an opposition group that split from the "Oromo Liberation Front" in November last year. The campaign killed a number of the group's fighters, but the government was unable to eliminate it.
The Addis Ababa government also engaged in military confrontations with the "Tigray People's Liberation Front" in the same month, and ended with the federal government's control of the city of Mekele, the capital of Tigray region, and the withdrawal of the Front's fighters.
On the other hand, the federal government in Ethiopia announced the appointment of the Minister of Technology and Innovation Abraham Bly as the new governor of the Tigrayan provisional government to succeed the former governor who was appointed last November.