Ethiopian police have detained a dozen former officials from the country’s war-torn Tigray interim government.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed set up the administration in Tigray after sending troops into the region in November 2020 to topple the regional ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
However, the TPLF has since retaken control of Tigray, and the fighting has come to a halt.
“Around 12 people have been arrested, all of them members of the previous Tigray interim administration.
The government communication service said Tuesday that police had “following due process, detained individuals who are believed to be part of an illegal scheme.
“As far as my information suggests, they are not part of the interim administration,” a former Tigray official tod newsmen
As the crisis stretched on, he accused the Abiy government of hunting for a scapegoat, saying the authorities “had to find somebody to be answerable for the disaster in Tigray.”
Gebremeskel Kassa, the former interim Tigray administration’s chief of staff, informed reporters in October that he had fled Ethiopia because he feared for his life.
He said in his asylum plea that he was summoned to meetings with high federal authorities who blamed the military loss on the interim administration, which handled civilian activities.
According to the United Nations, the war has uprooted over two million people, pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of hunger, and left over nine million people in need of help.