November 27, 2017 06:34
What are Samora’s plans for the army?
(Graviora Manent)
The Indian Ocean Newsletter (ION): ISSUE 1461 DATED 03/11/2017
In late October, the army chief of staff General Mohamed Nur Yunus, known as Samora, summoned some forty generals to the ministry of defence in Addis Ababa.
According to our information, the meeting was dominated by the issue of internal divisions within the military high command and its repercussions. General Samora reportedly painted a worrying picture of the current state of the armed forces, who are being ‘left to their own devices’ by commanders who are not doing their job properly. He is understood to have warned his generals that they would be held accountable, suggesting that a purge might be imminent.
Samora has already sidelined Oromo generals from military command positions, moving them to posts in the human resources departments (ION 1461). He might now be tempted to rid himself of senior Tigrayan officers who are contesting his authority, such as the former commander of the Northern Defence Command, General Seare Makonen Yimer, who is currently the head of the training department at the ministry.