Sawne kebele is now under Afar region of Ethiopia
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Afar region of Ethiopia says it has recovered land that was incorporated to the Tigray region of Ethiopia by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) soon after TPLF took power in 1991.
Wazema Radio cited Major Ibrahim Humed, Afar regional state security affairs head, as saying that the region has started administering Sawne kebele which it said was inappropriately annexed by TPLF.
The place is located between zone two of Afar region in Dallol district and Tigray region’s central zone in Besatsi Tseada District, as reported by Wazema radio.
Both Tigrigna and Afar languages are spoken in Sawne. It was returned to Afar region of Ethiopia after the TPLF lost the war with the Ethiopian Defense Force in November 2020.
However, TPLF guerrilla forces sometimes sneak into Sawne to launch an attack, but the region’s security forces have been repulsing it.
Wazema radio said that it spoke to residents of Sawne who said that they had been raising an identity [ethnic identity] question which was ignored. They had been denied safety net provisions and social services due to their identity question, they told Wazema.
Furthermore, the source said that it has confirmed their identity question was presented to the House of Federation ( it is like Ethiopia’s Upper House). Ethiopia’s Federal states are based on ethnicity.
It is to be recalled that TPLF incorporated Wolkait and Humera in the west and Raya in the South from the former provinces of Gondar and Wollo respectively.
Just like residents of Sawne, residents of Wolkait and Raya had been resisting what they called an imposed Tigray identity from TPLF when they were Amhara.
The U.S. state department has been demanding the withdrawal of Amahra forces from Wolkait and Raya.
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The post Sawne: Afar region of Ethiopia says its has recovered it from Tigray appeared first on Borkena Ethiopian News.