Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has dismissed the head of the Defense Ministry, Abraham Belay, and appointed engineer Aisha Mohammed to the post, the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) reported on Monday.
Mohammed previously served as defense minister in 2018 and most recently headed the Irrigation Ministry, which will now be headed by Belay.
Belay was appointed defense minister in 2021 during the war between the federal government and rebel forces in the northern region of Tigray, where he is from.
In November 2020, the rebels mutinied in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray, attacking federal bases in the state. They then began advancing into the south of the country in an attempt to blockade the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, but government forces managed to stop their advance.
On August 24, 2022, federal authorities and the rebel leadership traded accusations of violating the humanitarian truce and ceasefire that had existed between them. Fighting broke out in southern Tigray and northern neighboring Amhara State. The African Union offered the parties negotiations under its auspices, which began on October 25 in South Africa.
As a result, on November 2, Ethiopian federal authorities and Tigrayan rebels signed an agreement to end hostilities in the north. The agreements reaffirmed the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the republic and provided for the coordinated disarmament of the parties, the restoration of law and order, and unimpeded access of the population to humanitarian assistance. Since then, the parties have generally lived up to their commitments.