Letter: Context is Vital for the Tigray conflict

From Mesfir Tegenu, Executive chair of the American-E’hiopian Public Affairs Committee, CIaymont, DE, US
July 29 2021

The Financial Times has covered the conflict in Tigray. Ethiopia. extensively (Report. July 24/25). You have asked challenging questions of the Abiy Ahmed government. You have highlighted the plight of the Tigrayan population and the desperate need for humanitarian aid. You have echoed calls for investigations into alleged atrocities.

But there is another side. The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) is an armed rebel group, who first instigated the conflict back in November 2020 by attacking government military bases. They recently rejected Prime Minister Abiy’s ceasefire and as your report highlights they have engaged further mobilisation of their forces into Tigray’s neighbouring province of Amhara.

Where are the probing questions of the TPLF‘s motives? Where is the scrutiny of their actions? Where is the outrage at their refusal to agree to a ceasefire? Or their alleged use of child soldiers?

This is not good versus eyil; it is an extremely complex situation. Readers deserve balanced news to comprehend the context of this conflict. in a region critical to the west‘s interests in Africa and the Middle East.

Mesfin Tegenu
Executive chair of the American-Ethiopian Public Aflairs Committee
Claymont, DE, US