Nearly one million people could die due to conflict between Ethiopian federal, Tigrayan forces- Olusegun Obasanjo – Mereja

Former Nigerian President and African Union Special envoy for the Horn of Africa Olusegun Obasanjo announced that nearly one million people could die due to the bloody conflict between Ethiopian federal and Tigrayan forces in the northern part of Ethiopia.

In an opinion piece published in new American Publication known as SEMAFOR, Obasanjo, who was a chief mediator of the recent peace deal between the two warring forces, has blamed the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) for starting the nearly two-year war that has left 600,000 Tigrayans dead.

“On Nov. 4, 2020, the TPLF attacked the Ethiopian defence forces garrison in Tigray. In response Prime Minister Abiy Ahmd ordered what was labeled “law and order action” to punish the alleged impunity of TPLF,” Obasanjo said.

Obasanjo detailed his role as peacemaker and the difficulties he overcame to reach the November 2 peace agreement in South Africa and Nairobi declaration in Kenyaand seemed to place the blame on the TPLF’s attacks on the Ethiopian National Defence Forces garrison in Tigray on November 4, 2020.

The war raged for two years devastatingly and directly over four regions in Ethiopia.Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Oromia. There was no part of the country that did not feel the effect of the war in one way or another.

“The destruction caused in the Tigray region which is the main theater of the war was very high in human and material losses. It has been estimated that no fewer than 600,000 people died directly in a battle or as a result of disease and the lack of access to humanitarian aid,” he added.

According to the special envoy, if destruction of lives caused directly and directly in other parts of Ethiopia particularly in Amhra, Oromia and Afar is added, the estimated total lives lost in Ethiopia would be nearly one million.

The cost of reconstruction and rehabilitation of private and public properties and institutions has been estimated at about $25 billion, he continued.

The cost of the destruction of the trust and the breakdown of the relationships within and without the country is high and will take years if not decades to fully rebuild, he noted.