Ethiopian leader calls on citizens to defend his government as Tigray rebels make gains

Johannesburg — It's been nearly one year since Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops in to crush rebellious forces in the country's northern Tigray region. In that time Abiy's standing as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for ending the war with neighboring Eritrea has been undermined, as those same troops have been accused of committing unspeakable atrocities.  

Now there are fears that the Tigrayan army he claimed he would defeat could head towards the capital, Addis Ababa. Over the weekend, fighters from the Tigrayan Defence Force seized control of parts of Dessie, a city just less than 250 miles from Addis Ababa, and captured Kombolcha, with its major airport. With control over those two cities, the Tigrayans effectively control access to a major highway leading to the capital.  

In an act of hubris, Abiy claimed that an offensive he launched in October would recapture the Tigrayan capital of Mekele in just 10 days, but that initiative has been left in tatters as the Tigrayan forces make their most decisive advances since they took back Mekele in June.