
By The Indian Ocean Newsletter,
THE Ethiopian government authorities are taking the mainly Afar ARDUF armed rebel movement’s opposition to the creation last month of three special kebele (small administrative entities) in the Afar Regional State very seriously.
In response to threats issued by ARDUF’s leader in Asmara, Mussa Ibrahim, to attack the transport routes, the Ethiopian federal authorities asked the head of the security in the Afar Regional State, Seyum Awal, to deploy special police forces at the strategic points where the rebels could operate.
The latter see the creation of the three special kebeles as going back on the 21 September agreement between the presidents of the two Ethiopian regional states, Ismail Ali Siro (Afar) and Abdi Mahmud Omar (Somali).
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Indeed, this agreement obliged the Somali Regional State to hand back the administration of these same localities to the Afar Regional State.
An upswing in violence in this region which is crossed by routes communicating with Djibouti would impact the whole Ethiopian economy.
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