Thousands of Ethiopian men and women are quitting their jobs to enlist as rebels advance toward the capital. “Saving my country is my highest priority,” says a university librarian who joined a pro-government militia.
Across Ethiopia, thousands of men and women are quitting their jobs to enlist with the country’s armed forces, as rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, fanning fears that a simmering conflict will spiral into full-blown civil war.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called for ordinary Ethiopians to rally around the government’s armed forces.It is a similar situation across the rebel lines. Ethnic Tigrayans have flocked to join the TPLF after government forces swept through the mountainous northern region earlier this year. The TPLF dominated Ethiopia’s government for decades after displacing a Marxist regime in the 1990s, overseeing a rapid period of economic growth and foreign investment. But after Mr. Ahmed took office in 2018, he began whittling away its influence.Members of Ethiopia’s military on a truck in Shewa Robit.Fighting has raged across northern Ethiopia since Mr. Ahmed ordered an offensive in response to an attack by TPLF forces on a government military base in November 2020.
So, too, has Mr. Lilesa, who became famous after crossing his arms across his head as if they were shackled as he crossed the finish line to take the silver medal in the men’s marathon at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He spent years in exile after the gesture, which was intended to draw attention to the former TPLF-led government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.Former long-distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, center, at a rally in Addis Ababa.
U.N. investigators and rights groups such as Amnesty International have accused vigilantes of participating in a brutal crackdown against ethnic Tigrayans that includes mass arrests, kidnappings, and in some instances, targeted executions. A spokeswoman for Mr. Ahmed described the allegations as “panic-mongering.”Vigilantes stand guard in the Bole district in Addis Ababa.Volunteers are a useful asset for both sides, however.
Another soldier, identifying himself as Bennie, took a different route. After retiring from the military in 2000, he ran a textiles shop in the Tigrayan regional capital, Mekelle. When the war broke out last year, he said his shop was looted by government troops. He decided to join the TPLF fighters, training new recruits in artillery and other weaponry in the northern mountains.“The recruits are very brave and determined,” he said.
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