Ethiopia

Why in news?

• The Tigray Defense Forces [TDF], which is fighting an insurgency in the Tigray province of Ethiopia, has been accused of recruiting child soldiers.

About Ethiopia:

• Ethiopia, is a landlocked country on the Horn of Africa that shares borders with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Sudan.
• With over 109 million inhabitants as of 2019, Ethiopia is the second most populous nation on the African continent (after Nigeria), and most populous landlocked country in the world.
• Its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa, which lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates.
• During the late–19th-century Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia and Liberia were the only two nations that preserved their sovereignty from long-term colonisation by a European colonial power. But the country was later occupied by Italy in 1936 and became Italian Ethiopia (part of Italian East Africa), until it was liberated during World War II.

About Tigray Region:

• The Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine regions (kililat) of Ethiopia.
• Tigray is the homeland of the Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama peoples.
• Its capital and largest city is Mekelle.
• Tigray is the 5th largest by area, the 5th most populous, and the 5th most densely populated of the 9 Regional States.

Why is there a conflict?

• Since May 1991 till 2019 , Ethiopia was ruled by a  ethnic federalist political coalition  called The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) which toppled a Communist junta that ruled the country from 1974.
• It consisted of four political parties, namely Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM).
• In November 2019, the EPRDF dissolved, and Prime Minister and EPDRF chairman Abiy Ahmed merged most of the constituent parties of the coalition (except the TPLF) into a new party called the Prosperity Party.
• In Sept. 2020 - Tigray region, dominated by  TPLF held regional elections in defiance of the federal government, which postponed nationwide polls due in August because of COVID-19.
• In November hostilities broke out after federal troops in the region were allegedly attacked.

Prelims Question

” Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam” , recently in news is located on the river:
(a)Blue Nile
(b)White Nile
(c)Awash 
(d)Jubba

Answer to prelims question