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  Erklärung zur Äthiopien Krise infographic
Grafik zeigt die Entwicklung der Staatsverschuldung unter der TPLF.
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KONFLIKT

Erklärung der Krise in Äthiopien

By Duncan Mil

November 23, 2020 - Im Konflikt zwischen Tigray und Äthiopien geht es nicht um die regionale Autonomie. Stattdessen will die Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) die frühere Wirtschaftsmacht und Bodenschätze zurückgewinnen, die sie bis 2018 besessen hat.

The conflict started on November 4, when Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive against regional forces in Tigray. The move was in response to a “preemptive strike” against the federal army’s Northern Command in Tigray’s provincial capital, Mekelle.

The escalation came after months of feuding between the government and leaders of Tigray’s TPLF following the election of Prime Minister Abiy in April 2018.

For almost three decades, the TPLF was at the centre of power, the leader of a four-party coalition that governed Ethiopia from 1991.

In 1994, the TPLF-led coalition introduced a new constitution which allowed only public ownership of land. The change enabled the TPLF to evict thousands of farmers and sell long-term leases to foreign investors, amassing billions of dollars. Meanwhile, government debt began to rise at an alarming rate.

Between 1992 and 2018, the period the TPLF was running the country, debt increased from 26 billion Ethiopian birrs -- the local currency -- to 1,344.4 billion birrs, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) figures. Driven by loans, mainly from China and India, debt surged from US$8.6 billion to $45.1 billion. The debt had reached 57.9 per cent of the country’s GDP when Abiy came to power in 2018, launching a comprehensive programme of political and economic reforms. The TPLF rejected Abiy’s authority.

Between 1997 and 2016, the TPLF received $1.77 billion in loans from China while India handed over $818.42 million, according to the Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies. That’s an average of $129.4 million every year.

In December 2019, Abiy announced $3 billion in reform financing from the World Bank and $2.9 billion from the IMF.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 23/11/2020; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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