Guterres concerned about worsening the security situation in Ethiopia

“ ANDwe are deeply concerned about the worsening of the security situation and recent events in Ethiopia, including the formation of a new coalition of armed groups and news about the persistence of insecurity and attacks with ‘drones’, said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for António Guterres, at a press conference in New York.

Guterres called for “all parties” to refrain from taking action and making statements “that may further aggravate the situation” in the context of “growing tensions” in the region.

The Portuguese diplomat also urged the various political actors to “renew their commitment to dialogue”, arguing that “military action will not resolve political differences or address the underlying causes of discontent”.

Guterre reaffirmed the UN’s support for the African Union’s efforts to “impulse the implementation of the Pretoria Agreement” (South Africa), signed four years ago.

The statement comes one day after seven groups — the Amhara Fano National Movement, the Oromo Liberation Army, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Afar National Unity Front, the Benishangul People's Liberation Movement and the Gumuz People's Democratic Movement — have formed the Coalition for the Survival of the Ethiopian People's Forces (CSFPE).

The coalition, they announced, has as its immediate objective the overthrow of the Government and the creation of a provisional and inclusive transition executive, governed by a Transition Charter that will seek “to end armed conflicts and respond to Ethiopia’s security, humanitarian, social and economic crises”.

The Survival Coalition accuses the Government of inaction against insecurity, armed conflict, displacement of the population, poverty and erosion of democratic rights and human rights. He criticizes what he calls Abiy Ahmed’s “personalist and genocidal dictatorial regime” for bringing “war, genocide and destruction” into the country, which can cause the nation’s “total disintegration”.

In July, the Ethiopian Government considered the peace agreement signed in 2022 in Pretoria with the TPLF dissolved, which led to the resumption of a war that in just two years (2020-2022), caused between 100,000 and 600,000 deaths, depending on the source.

After the Pretoria agreement, Tigray remained under a provisional government accepted by the federal authorities of the country until the return of the TPLF to regional power at the beginning of May.

Since then, they have repeatedly denounced the Ethiopian Government for fulfilling the terms agreed in Pretoria and keeping the region in a state of complete marginalisation.

The Federal Government, for its part, has not recognised the restored administration and has insisted that the only authority in force in the region is the Provisional Regional Administration of Tigray, established under the Pretoria Agreement, and now replaced by the TPLF.