Foreign & Public Diplomacy

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at violent clashes across Ethiopia, the Vatican courting France, and a seven-day proposal to end the Iran war.

Threats to Addis Ababa

For nearly four years, Ethiopia has clung to a state of precarious peace, afraid to reignite a civil war that became one of the world’s deadliest conflicts in this century. But the country’s 2022 truce ultimately shattered this week, when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)—a powerful ethno-nationalist political and paramilitary organization that ruled Ethiopia for three decades until 2018—launched what its leaders called a “defensive” war to oust Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at violent clashes across Ethiopia, the Vatican courting France, and a seven-day proposal to end the Iran war.

Threats to Addis Ababa

For nearly four years, Ethiopia has clung to a state of precarious peace, afraid to reignite a civil war that became one of the world’s deadliest conflicts in this century. But the country’s 2022 truce ultimately shattered this week, when the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)—a powerful ethno-nationalist political and paramilitary organization that ruled Ethiopia for three decades until 2018—launched what its leaders called a “defensive” war to oust Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

It is unclear what led to renewed fighting. On Wednesday, the TPLF accused government forces of firing on its troops, prompting retaliation. Addis Ababa tells a different story, arguing that armed rebels ordered an “all-out offensive” against federal positions in the Afar and Amhara regions as well as seized three airports in nearby Tigray. “The TPLF politico-military leadership has obviously taken irresponsibility to new heights,” Getachew Reda, an advisor to Abiy and a former TPLF official, wrote on social media.

Since then, violent clashes have only escalated. According to the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), its troops have already killed 272 “enemy troops” and captured 260 others. “Currently, the army is assessing the enemy’s situation and launching well-planned counterattacks from key military positions it holds,” the ENDF said.........

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