Why Ethiopia may be heading for civil war

Military seizes airport and shuts off internet in northern Tigray region as rebels reject PM Abiy Ahmed

A member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front holding an assault rifle.
An armed member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Ethiopia appears to be on the verge of civil war following a wave of increasingly deadly armed skirmishes between the national government and local authorities controlling the northern Tigray region.

The African nation’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last week sent troops and air force jets into Tigray, in what France 24 describes as a “campaign against the regional ruling party”, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

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