Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: The long, medium, and short story

2020-11-18 01:23:53

A conflict between the government of Ethiopia and forces in its northern Tigray region has thrown the country into turmoil. Fighting has been going on for almost two weeks, destabilising the populous country in East Africa, with reports of hundreds dead. A power struggle, an election and a push for political reform are among several factors that led to the crisis. Here, we've broken them down to explain how and why this conflict has flared. In simple chunks of 100, 200 and 500 words, this is the story of the crisis so far. The roots of this crisis can be traced to Ethiopia's system of government. Since 1994, Ethiopia has had a federal system in which different ethnic groups control the affairs of 10 regions. Remember that powerful party from Tigray? Well, this party - the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) - was influential in setting up this system. It was the leader of a four-party coalition that governed Ethiopia from 1991, when a military regime was ousted from power.