'Once and for all': Ethiopia calls 'all capable' citizens to fight in the ultimate Tigray war

The call to join the military is so far not compulsory, but with access to parts of Ethiopia increasingly blocked, it's difficult to know what kind of pressure is being applied.

Ethiopia's government on Tuesday summoned all capable citizens to war, urging them to join the country's military to stop resurgent forces from the embattled Tigray region 'once and for all.' The call to arms is an ominous sign that all of Ethiopia's 110 million people are being drawn into a conflict that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, once declared would be over within weeks. The deadly fighting has now spread beyond Tigray into neighboring regions, and fracturing in Africa's second most populous country could destabilize the entire Horn of Africa region. Tuesday's announcement effectively ends the unilateral cease-fire the government declared in June as its military retreated from Tigray. It is also almost certain to magnify the toll of a nine-month war that has led to the massacre of thousands, widespread gang rapes and the displacement of entire communities, mostly Tigrayan.