ADDIS ABABA — Seven of several Ethiopian rebel groups fighting in different parts of the country have announced they have formed an alliance aimed at overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa.
“We have established a joint alliance called the Ethiopian Peoples’ Forces Alliance for Survival, known in short as the Alliance for Survival,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The alliance includes the Amhara Fano National Movement, a coalition of Fano factions that has fought federal forces in the Amhara region since 2023; the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office; and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which has fought federal forces in Oromia since 2018.
Four smaller groups – the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), the Afar Revolutionary Democratic Unity Front (Ugugumo), the Benishangul Peoples’ Liberation Movement and the Gumuz Peoples’ Democratic Movement – make up the rest.
The rebel groups accuse Abiy Ahmed’s government of presiding over “war, genocide, mass destruction, and utter poverty”, claiming Ethiopia is at risk of disintegration.
Ethiopia has faced years of armed conflict in Oromia and Amhara, the most populous states in the country.
There have also been renewed tensions in the northern Tigray region, where a two-year civil war left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced millions.
An African Union peace deal ended that war in 2022, but there have been fears of a return to a full-scale conflict, with both sides accusing each other of violating that agreement.
Besides Oromia, Amhara and Tigray, the new alliance also includes groups based in three other regions – Somali, Afar and Benishangul-Gumuz – making up a half of Ethiopia’s 12 regional states.
Abdikadir Addaani Hirmooge, the spokesman for the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which is part of the alliance, told the BBC that the government had not respected a peace deal signed in 2018 to end the conflict in the Somali region.
Addaani accused Abiy’s Prosperity Party of being an “obstacle to the people” and “unleashing” wars and many deaths.
“Ethnic conflict, insecurity, and mutual oppression and pushing each other aside have not been eradicated, resulting in a need that has affected every ethnic group,” he said.
Addaani said the groups in the new coalition were working to bring together communities that have been divided against one another.
“Our objective is for the communities to have democracy and to exercise their right to self-determination, to genuinely govern themselves,” he said.
Amhara’s Fano group fought alongside federal forces during the Tigray war.
It however turned against the federal government in an armed insurgency less than a year after the war ended, after refusing government orders to disarm.
The government has been fighting the OLA since 2018.
The announcement of the Alliance for Survival coalition comes months after reports of an alleged alliance between TPLF and neighboring Eritrea.
Abiy responded by saying he had faith in Ethiopia’s “defensive capabilities”.
“Even if others were added, we do not have an iota of fear regarding Ethiopia’s sovereignty,” he told lawmakers in July.
The country held a general election in June, with Abiy’s Prosperity Party retaining its overwhelming parliamentary majority, despite the poll being overshadowed by conflict, accusations of repression and little participation by opposition parties.
The Fano and OLA rebel groups rejected the election and its results.
The Tigray region and its six million inhabitants were completely excluded from the poll.
Source: Saudi Gazette