Ethiopia: militiamen in the Afar region say they have been abandoned by the government

2022-02-19T17:54:04.291Z

In the Afar region, in the north of Ethiopia, there is a deep feeling of abandonment. The northern part of the province has been under the control of Tigrayan rebels for almost a month. The fighting continues...

Ethiopia: militiamen in the Afar region say they have been abandoned by the government

Audio 01:29

In Semera, on February 17, 2022, Afar militiamen, Ibrahim Nour (left) and Mohammed Othman (right), returning from the front.

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In the Afar region, in the north of Ethiopia, there is a deep feeling of abandonment.

The northern part of the province has been under the control of Tigrayan rebels for almost a month.

The fighting continues, unequal fighting according to the Afars.

Their militiamen clash with mechanized units of the Tigrayan party of the TPLF.

Expecting support from the government, they find themselves desperately alone.

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With our special correspondent in Semera,

Noé Hochet-Bodin

The town of Afdera, about a hundred kilometers from the front, is home to a military base of the federal army.

However, according to the Afar fighter Hassan Muhammad, the federal soldiers do not come out of their barracks: “

Me, I did not see the federal army on the front.
Never.
We don't know why they don't support us.
It's incomprehensible.
This question has been asked for a long time.

Indeed, on paper, the federal army and the Afar militias are allies and are fighting a common adversary, the Tigrayan rebels.

But on the ground, the Afars are lonely.

Valerie Browning, who has been living in Afar for more than thirty years to help pastoralists in the region, does not understand the silence of Abiy Ahmed's government: "

Afars were being killed during the African Union summit in early February, but the Prime Minister assured that there was no more conflict in the country.

The militiaman Mohammed Othman is, for his part, back from the front.

He does not hide his bitterness: “

The federal state is made up of ten states, but we are the most mistreated people in this country.
We Afars no longer consider ourselves Ethiopians given Ethiopia's behavior towards us.

According to diplomatic sources, army drones are in Afar in the event that the Tigrayan rebels approach the strategic road linking Addis Ababa to Djibouti.

Ethiopia: militiamen in the Afar region say they have been abandoned by the government

Ethiopia: militiamen in the Afar region say they have been abandoned by the government

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