|
|
|
|
|
A
further blow for a beleaguered leader |
A GENERAL DEFECTS
Aug 17th 2006
A further blow for a beleaguered leader
ETHIOPIA'S prime minister, Meles Zenawi, now
spends most of his time heading off his
enemies. In the capital, Addis Ababa, the
government's response to its defeat in last
year's contested general election was to
shoot scores of opposition protesters and
imprison the city's elected mayor. This led
to the suspension of aid from his previously
loyal Western backers.
To the south, in the Ogaden desert, he has
been fighting with the Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel group that
seeks autonomy for south-eastern Ethiopia.
On August 11th Ethiopia reported having shot
dead 13 ONLF fighters slipping across the
desert from Somalia. Ethiopia's recent
military incursion into Somalia in defence
of the Transitional Government in Baidoa
threatens imminent conflict there against
Islamist militias based in the capital,
Mogadishu.
On top of this comes the distinct
possibility of a conflict with Ethiopia's
arch-enemy Eritrea in the north, where
perhaps as many as half of Eritrea's young
men are massed under arms on its side of the
disputed border.
Eritrea's increasingly totalitarian regime
has become a regional menace; its foreign
policy now appears to comprise nothing more
than to support any enemy of Ethiopia's, no
matter the cost. On August 8th Eritrea
announced its biggest coup to date; a
brigadier-general heading the 18th division
of the Ethiopian army defected to Eritrea
with several ranking officers, hundreds of
soldiers, and plenty of weapons.
The general, Kemal Gelchu, was an ethnic
Oromo. Probably as many as half of
Ethiopians are Oromo, a good number of them
Muslim. According to the government's system
of ethnic federalism, the Oromos are meant
to have a large stake in power. In reality,
they are weak and neglected, just as they
have always been. A few support the Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF)--another rebel group
seeking a "fairer" Ethiopia, meaning a shift
of power from Mr Zenawi and his fellow
Tigrayans, who account for, at most, 7% of
the population, but who have dominated the
government and the economy since taking
power in 1991.
Mr Gelchu's defection puts a face to the
deep unhappiness in the non-Tigrayan bits of
Ethiopia. He and his men will now
undoubtedly join the OLF and fight the
Ethiopian government. Force is the only
language the government understands, Mr
Gelchu says. Alas, force may be exactly what
Mr Zenawi is going to get, and on many
fronts.
Source:
ECONOMIST.COM |
|
|
|
|
