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Addis Ababa (AFP)
The Ethiopian government affirmed progress in its battle against the breakaway Tigray region on Saturday, showing no signs of giving in to international pressure to halt the conflict that has caused tens of thousands of people to flee and raised fears of disaster. humanitarian.
“Our defense forces are currently marching on Mekele,” Ethiopia’s State of Emergency, a government agency, said on Saturday. The regional capital is the headquarters of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which the government seeks to dislodge from power.
The agency also said that the national army had captured a number of villages in Tigray, including the ancient city of Aksum and Adigrat, 117 kilometers (73 miles) north of Mekele.
In a statement, the TPLF said there had been a “heavy bombardment” of Adigrat, but did not say who was now in control.
A communications blackout in the region has made the claims of both parties to the conflict difficult to verify.
– military ‘advances’ –
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize last year, unleashed a military campaign against the TPLF on November 4, accusing his forces of attacking two federal military camps in the region and the party of challenging his government. and seek to destabilize it.
Hundreds of people are reported to have died in the conflict in Africa’s second most populous country, while tens of thousands have fled the fighting and crossed into neighboring Sudan.
In a statement Saturday, Abiy praised the advance of his army. “Our forces have now completely liberated the city of Adigrat militia of the TPLF from today,” he said.
“Along with the rest of Ethiopia, we will work to ensure that all humanitarian needs are addressed,” said Abiy.
“The safety and general well-being of the people of Tigray is of the utmost importance to the federal government and we will do whatever is necessary to ensure that stability prevails in the Tigray region and that our citizens are free from harm and want,” said. said.
– Mediation rejected –
The TPLF led the overthrow of Mengistu Hailemariam, head of Ethiopia’s military Derg regime, in 1991 and dominated the country’s politics until Abiy became prime minister in 2018.
The party continues to rule Tigray, one of 10 regional states under Ethiopia’s system of ethnic federalism, according to which regions are delineated by ethnicity and language.
TPLF leaders have complained of being marginalized and blamed for the problems of the country. The bitter dispute with the central government led the TPLF to hold its own elections this year in defiance of a postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Abiy has so far rejected all calls for peace.
On Friday, the African Union named three former national presidents as special envoys to be dispatched “in the coming days”: Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa.
“The envoys will travel to Ethiopia with a view to helping mediate between the parties to the conflict in the sister Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,” said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, current AU president.
Agency fact-finding of a state of emergency in Ethiopia said Abiy would meet with the envoys. However, he also contradicted Ramaphosa, saying: “The news circulating that the envoys will travel to Ethiopia to mediate between the Federal Government and the criminal element of the TPLF is false.”
US officials said they, too, had called for a reduction in tension, but saw little prospect of negotiations.
“Neither party, from all we hear, is interested in mediation,” said Tibor Nagy, the top US diplomat for Africa.
– Refugees flee –
Military action has already spread beyond the borders of Tigray with the TPLF firing rockets at the Eritrea capital Asmara to the north and the Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar to the southwest.
The campaign has seen fighter jets bombarding Tigray and heavy fighting, while Amnesty International has documented a gruesome massacre in which “dozens, and probably hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death” in the southwestern city of Mai-Kadra.
Meanwhile, the UN chief, Antonio Guterres, warned of a “dramatic humanitarian impact” of the fighting, calling for “the opening of humanitarian corridors and the truces that may be necessary for humanitarian aid to be delivered,” without specifying where such corridors could be located.
UN officials in Geneva said about $ 200 million will be needed to provide assistance to some 200,000 people who could flee the unrest over the next six months.
© 2020 AFP
