Ethiopia: Tigrayan officers defy the government

Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Forces, Gen. Mohamed Nur Yunus Samora with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and newly appointed Tigrayan generals

by Africa Intelligence

According to our sources, Tigrayan military officers close to Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Forces (ENF), Gen. Mohamed Nur Yunus Samora, no longer disguise their distrust of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Already, on several occasions, Samora has gone against the decisions of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, deeming the latter have received poor counsel from his advisers.

This information was partly revealed on the private radio station Zami FM which belongs to the Ethiopian-American Mimi Sibhatu. Sibbhatu is a close friend of Azeb Mesfin, the widow of former prime minister Meles Zenawi, who is also director of the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (Effort) and of Mesfin Industrial Engineering (MIE). She has distanced herself from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) since demonstrations were stepped up in the Oromia and Amhara regions.