no end in sight . Instead , Abebaw Tadesse the Deputy army chief of staff of the national army ( ENDF ) has announced an imminent second military phase that is aimed at retaking Mekelle in order to “ destroy the enemy ,” as he put it .
In the prevailing context of the war in Ethiopia , the word “ destroy ” is frightening , considering the fact that “ the Federal government has entertained ambiguity between the targets of its law and order operation and ordinary Tigrayans .” Moreover , in such a context that ’ s widely acknowledged as a “ siege ” where ordinary Tigrayans are dying of hunger , succumbing to preventable diseases for lack of access to medicines , and being subjected to all kinds of atrocities – ranging from rape , ethnic cleansing , drone strikes , to mass incarceration – the objective of “ destroying the enemy ” has frightening implications . If the aim of Ethiopia ’ s federal government was to convince the world that this war had a legitimate cause , then the manner in which it has pursued this cause has undermined its case . This was obvious the moment it could not link the cause , the methods of its pursuit , and the targeted enemy for destroying . This ambiguity is just too costly even for some of us who were otherwise attracted to the idea of “ One Ethiopia ”. As a result of the war and despite its stated aims , the prospects of “ One Ethiopia ” have been pointing in the opposite direction . This means that the war is achieving the opposite of what was intended as it destroys the social fabric of Ethiopian society .
Moreover , a confluence of factors assures the demise of the “ One Ethiopia ” project : the resistance of the Ethiopian society , the diminishing power of the federal government , and the latter ’ s increasing reliance on regional forces . This is not surprising since one can be opposed to the TPLF without embracing the revocation of the current ethnic-based federalism . For instance , many in the Oromo community , a historically marginalised group whose resistance mainly drove the TPLF out of power in 2018 , are
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