In an interview with DW, Getachew Redda a former minister of communication in the Tigray regional government said that the Tigrayans will hold elections as planned regardless of Abiy's plans of disrupting them." It unprecedented that Prime Minister Abiy is threatening to use force against a region that wants to hold elections," Redda told DW. It has extended its own mandate and that of the executive," Hadush Kahsay, a communications officer from the Tigray regional government, told DW. Federal officials, meanwhile, reject Tigray's legal interpretation and so categorize its actions as unlawful. Still, the ICG notes, other federal officials have been less conciliatory and that the risk of the "catastrophic" conflict remains.

Source: Ethiopian News August 18, 2020 13:41 UTC