Click to see the full-size image
The war between the federal government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which controls the country’s province of Tigray, continues at full scale:
- On November 20, the Ethiopian Army allegedly captured Axum and Adwa amid heavy clashes with TPLF forces;
- On November 20 and 21, clashes between the army and TPLF continued in the Korem area;
- On November 21, the Ethiopian Army allegedly captured Adigrat town;
- On November 21, the Ethiopian Army shelled the Tigray provincial capital with rocket launchers.
the road for Mekelle is open
Didn’t Eritrea break away from Ethiopia in the 1960’s and have a war which resulted in mass starvation. So this is just basically a continuation of war in that area by people who don’t want to be part of Ethiopia.
Nope. Eritrea was basically part of Ethiopia with their own government while Abbas Abba handled the military and foreign affairs. Things went sour in the early 60’s after the Ethiopian government dissolved their government and annexed the territory. Both sides suffered mass starvations over the following 3 decades until Eritrea became a recognized country in 1991.
Ah but they did have a war between themselves. The Eritrean War of Independence was a conflict fought between successive Ethiopian governments and Eritrean Independence fighters from September 1, 1961 to May 24, 1991. I remember it from TV in the 60’s . Then there was Nigeria / Biafra and the Congo . The 60’s seemed to be nothing but wars in Africa..
A war that dragged on forever because neither side had the popular support of the masses. Both were agrarian/pastoral societies that were more concerned surviving the droughts than who ruled them or controlled a distant region.
I got to meet quite a few African students in the 70’s when visiting friends attending Midwestern colleges. Most had their country’s governments paying for the expense and was surprised they were footing the bill for students from their regions in rebellion. The Ibos from Biafra said they had no problem with returning home after graduating since they figured the fighting would be over by then and Nigeria would need their expertise as doctors and dentists. The rest said they might, depending on the outcome and who wound up in charge of the government. They attended another college studying civil engineering, geology and mining.
Eritrea, which was part of the Axum Kingdom and a couple of other sultanates, was never part of Ethiopia, though the Axum Kingdom at one time included parts of North Ethiopia before the rise of the Ethiopian Kingdom. Eritrea was colonised by Italy in the 19th century. It was not under the Ethiopian Kingdom at any time until after WWII when the Brutish, rather than give Eritrea its independence, made it a protectorate of Ethiopia with internal autonomy in 1952. Ten years later in 1962 the Haile Selassie monarchy outright annexed Eritrea, and the Eritreans rebelled.
I had a very basic understanding which you have clarified thank you.
This war is going exactly like the Azeri advance in Nagorno Karabakh. The vaunted TPLF regime military in Tigray is reduced to making propaganda fantasy boasts just like the vaunted Artsakh military was.