Abiy calls Ethiopian MPs for urgent debate on state of emergency

Ethiopia’s House of People’s Representatives is set to meet on Tuesday to debate and decide on whether to lift a nationwide state of emergency imposed six months ago.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has called parliamentarians for an emergency meeting, recalling them back from recess that was meant to last until end of February, says the Ethiopian Insider, a local news outlet.

MPs usually take a break in February and between July and the end of September.

Tuesday’s call for the emergency meeting comes one day after US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, began his official visit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

However, it is not yet clear whether Addis Ababa’s call for the emergency meeting is linked to the envoy’s arrival.

According to the US State of Department, during his two-day visit from February 13-14 Satterfield was slated to hold meetings with Ethiopian government, African Union, and United Nations officials, as well as representatives of humanitarian organisations.

Ethiopia’s state of emergency was imposed on November 2 after the proscribed group Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), who are fighting government and its allies, took control of several towns outside the Tigray region and advanced towards Addis Ababa.

The national decree was initially imposed for six months. However, after TPLF forces retreated from several areas of the Amhara region, the Ethiopian cabinet some three weeks ago decided the lift of the state of emergency and forwarded its decision to parliament for approval.

Ethiopia’s cabinet then approved lifting of the state of emergency ahead of its expiration in what it argued was due to a progress achieved in security conditions in the country.

“Now we have reached a stage where threats can be neutralised through regular law enforcement mechanisms,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said in a statement late in January in support to the cabinet’s proposal.