Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission. (Photo: EPA / Patrick Seeger)

The Ethiopian civil war broke out after the November 4 attack by Tigray forces on the base of federal troops in Mekelle, capital of the northern Ethiopian regional state. Although the relationship between Addis Ababa and Mekelle has been strained since the transition in which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, few expected tension to erupt at the time and in the way it did.