iAfrica 2 months ago 1 min read
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The injury-plagued life, and now death, of Asmelash Woldeselassie highlights the brutality and cyclical nature of conflicts in Ethiopia’s mountainous Tigray region. Having joined the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) around the time of its formation in 1975, Asmelash lost his eyesight when he was bombed in his hideout in the Imba Alaje Mountain during the war that ended with the guerrilla movement marching into Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to seize power from the notorious Mengistu Haile Mariam regime in 1991. Then in 1998, when the TPLF-led government found itself at the centre of a border war with Eritrea, Asmelash lost his left arm in an airstrike on the regional capital, Mekelle. In the latest conflict that has seen the TPLF return to being a guerrilla movement, Asmelash – who was a member of its exe
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The injury-plagued life, and now death, of Asmelash Woldeselassie highlights the brutality and cyclical nature of conflicts in Ethiopia s mountainous Tigray region.
Having joined the Tigray People s Liberation Front (TPLF) around the time of its formation in 1975, Asmelash lost his eyesight when he was bombed in his hideout in the Imba Alaje mountain during the war that ended with the guerrilla movement marching into Ethiopia s capital, Addis Ababa, to seize power from the notorious Mengistu Haile Mariam regime in 1991.
Then in 1998, when the TPLF-led government found itself at the centre of a border war with Eritrea, Asmelash lost his left arm in an airstrike on the regional capital, Mekelle.
Former FM Seyoum Mesfin Killed After Refusing to Surrender: Army
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BY
TESFANEWS
The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) killed the conflict-hit Tigray region’s former ruling party, including ex-Ethiopian Foreign Minister
Seyoum Mesfin, during a battle in the country’s northern Tigray regional state.
Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew, Head of the ENDF Deployment Department, said Seyoum Mesfin was killed alongside
Asmelash Woldeselassie, former Ethiopia parliament Chief Whip and
Abay Tsehaye, former Ethiopia Minister of Federal Affairs during a battle earlier on Wednesday.
The three Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) officials were killed after they refused to surrender to the military, Ayalew said.
Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia’s long-serving former foreign minister, was one of the foremost African diplomats of his generation. He was gunned down this month in Tigray by the armed forces of a lesser man – Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister and Nobel peace prize winner. Some suggest it was the Eritrean military, Abiy’s allies, who killed Seyoum, although their presence in Tigray is officially denied. The circumstances of his death remain murky..