what was he supposed to do? The tigray were being dicks for absolutely no reason. Abiy had not indicated he would form policies against them, they just hated the idea of not being in power. Alafu, i think they must be getting aid from Egypt. Of course egypt has ben waiting for a chance like this to fuck over ethiopia
When war looked imminent Tigray took over the Ethiopia Army northern command base which incidentally was Ethiopia main armour unit base. They took Ethiopia main armour assets such as Tanks and Artillery. PM Abiy made two big mistakes. One he gave Eritrea carte Blanche to attack Tigray which means for the first time in Ethiopia history, its leader allowed foreign aggression into its territory willingly. As soon as Eritrea got involved, he couldn’t control them. The looted, raped and committed genocide at will. PM Abiy has being trying to cover that instead of stopping it. Second big mistakes was allowing UAE drones based in Eritrea to attack the armour Tigray took from their northern command base. UAE drones decimated them completely. Great for Ethiopia forces on the charge northwards. It allowed them to earlier successes. However now Ethiopia army has no armour. Eritrea knows this and worse Sudan knows this. Sudan pushed by Egypt and with permission from usa moved into Ethiopia western flanks and took over 10,000acres of disputed land for its pastoral communities along their common border that has being disputed for decades. Ethiopia couldn’t open another war front with Sudan.
So where does that leave PM Abiy and Ethiopia. Well only God knows. I’m really disappointed in him, I thought he was their Mandela. The earlier conflict between Tigray and ET was shocking. Forgot how this two armies don’t care about mass losses in war. They lost 1000’s of troops quickly over the weeks. Their leaders don’t care how many soldiers die in battles. Tigray was caught between the ET army from the south which they were well positioned to fight until UAE drones showed up. However the attacks from Eritrea broke their lines and in a few months they had gotten Tigray forces to retreat to Sudan mountainous region. Tigray lost leaders, troops and equipments. That could have been the end. However they got Sudan supplies and they remobilised. They knew taking Merkele was the easy part. Governing Tigray against an insurgency would be impossible especially since all ET troops are foreign to the region. The insurgency was fast and deadly. ET troops were soon chasing shadows during the day and being attacked with deadly precision at night. They got scared and started retreating slowly. When the planes started coming down too and supply lines become uncertain then the full retreat was on. Yesterday the retreat became a full blown race out of Tigray. Random bombings to markets, centres killing civilians by ET as they retreated was evil and it didn’t make any military sense. They have fled and the horrors will soon be headlines news across the world.
Ethiopia is now in a precarious position. PM Abiy has lost Tigray, his Army armour are depleted, his Treasury broke on a war he couldn’t win. Tigray will now never be governed again by Addis Ababa. Its gone. Locally in the rest of Ethiopia, Amhara state has being PM Abiy attack dog. They were the most vocal supporters of pro-war with Tigray to settle scores with TPF. PM Abiy doesn’t control Amhara state leaders at will but by mutual interest. He made a devils pact with them to support the war. Amhara state have lost land to Sudan. Will they demand ET to go to war with Sudan to recover it. Three times they have exchanged fire with Sudan on the border. Meanwhile closer to Addis Ababa the Oromo community of PM Abiy is fighting against Amhara community over disputed land borders that has lead to estimated 100000 deaths in the last 4 years and 2 million to be dispersed as internal refugees in their own country. ET is in the brink more that people know. Pray for that country. The centre has being greatly destabilized.
PM Abiy is truly fucked. He allowed Eritrea in and he couldn’t control them. Big strategic mistake. There were several mass death and genocide by ET and Eritrea troops. When it got out they didn’t know where and how to cover it up. Now the videos are starting to emerge. Biden chief of staff has Tigray ancestry. Calls to Eritrea to withdrew started when they tried to invade the church where the Ark of covenant is rumoured to rest in Tigray. That lead some powers in Europe to protest. PM Abiy told Eritrea to withdraw. They refused. They have being staying on since. He should gave realized by them he has lost control. A state visit to Eritrea was quickly arranged. Eritrea instead of withdrawal asked for ET army uniforms to wear and stay on in Tigray. That what happened. The EU mission was taken in circles and they protested. Sanctions soon followed. More sanctions coming. ET is at risk of destroying everything they worked hard to build in 20 years because of terrible bad decisions. Lesson: The enemy to your enemy is not your friend. He us just another enemy. Live at peace with your bothers or go the Yugoslavia way.
When you think you are more powerful the first reaction is to make rebels tow the line by exercising the power you have but owe unto you if you overestimate your power or dynamics change. That what happened.