Its Absame to blame. That's the bitter truth. Doesn't matter who was holding the leash.You've mixed it up.
Cisse supported Abdi Iley (with regards to his stance on Sitti), but not the agreement he was forced to sign. It was done against Abdi Iley's will by the TPLF-led gov't.
If Abdi Iley did it willingly, why didn't he hand over the land to the Afar region? Because it never happened.
And no, the conflicts did not start 2020 either. It started way before when the entire country descended into chaos around 2017. To which Iley responded by sending armed forces there, and defending all Somali inhabited land, especially in Sitti. The Afars never managed to get a single inch of that land under his rule.
To make it clear, the disputed has existed since the 90s. It would've continue today whether the agreement happened or not. Look at the rest of the borders that DDS shares with Oromia. There are border disputes everywhere. Despite the fact that there were referendums there, you can ask the same question here.
Afars only took advantage of the power vaccum when Cagjar took over. Despite revoking the agreement, Cagjar was at first hesitant to send forces there during fightings, but the locals managed to keep the land by themselves. It was only during the Tigray war with external help, that Afars captured most of the disputed lands.
Here you have a local guy who knows a lot, corroborating what I said, even he don't blame Abdi Illey/Absame. This is not an uncommon viewpoints either.
I never said it started into 2020. I said the withdrawal from that agreement in 2019 sparked a border in conflict in 2020.