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Eritrea’s capital was attacked by Ethiopia’s breakaway Tigray region on Friday, raising fears that Ethiopia’s internal conflict could spread as leader Abiy Ahmed resisted calls for dialogue.
For more than three weeks, Ethiopia and Tigray have been involved in fierce fighting that the International Crisis Group said on Friday had left thousands dead “including many civilians and security forces.”
On Friday night, at least one rocket fired from the northern region of Tigray targeted neighboring Eritrea, four regional diplomats told AFP.
Abiy, the winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced on Thursday a “third and final phase” in his campaign against the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Global concern remains focused on the half a million residents of Mekele, the regional capital of Tigray, which the army says it surrounded before the threat of attack.
World leaders and human rights groups warned that such an attack could violate the rules of war and called for urgent mediation.
Pope Francis was among those concerned about escalating fighting, increasing loss of life and displacement, Vatican media chief Matteo Bruni said on Friday.
Abiy announced military operations in Tigray on November 4 after months of friction between his government and the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018.
The prime minister has refused to negotiate with the TPLF and dismissed calls for dialogue as “interference” in Ethiopia’s internal affairs.
On Friday he met with three former African leaders, Joaquim Chissano from Mozambique, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from Liberia and Kgalema Motlanthe from South Africa, sent this week by the African Union as mediators.
‘Enforce the rule of law’
In a statement issued after their meeting in Addis Ababa, Abiy said he appreciated “this gesture and … the strong commitment it shows to the principle of African solutions to African problems.”
Still, the government has a “constitutionally ordered responsibility to enforce the rule of law in the region and throughout the country,” his office said in a statement.
“Failure to do so would foster a culture of impunity at a devastating cost to the survival of the country,” he said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres welcomed the talks with the AU envoys and urged all parties to “peacefully resolve the conflict.”
The UN Secretary General also stressed the need to “guarantee the protection of civilians, human rights and access for humanitarian assistance to the affected areas.”
The Tigrayan government, meanwhile, said on Friday that the federal army was bombing towns and villages and inflicting heavy damage, although it did not specifically mention Mekele.
“Our struggle will continue in all directions until the self-determination of the people of Tigray is guaranteed and the invading force is expelled,” Tigray authorities said in a statement read on regional television.
A communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify both sides’ claims about the fighting.
Hostilities have erupted in a year in which the 55-member AU, based in Addis Ababa, resolved to play a more prominent role in conflict resolution across the continent under the slogan “Silence the guns.”
New attack on Eritrea
At least one rocket fired from Tigray targeted neighboring Eritrea on Friday night, four regional diplomats told AFP, the second such attack since Ethiopia’s internal conflict broke out earlier this month.
There was no immediate confirmation of how many rockets were fired, where they landed and the casualties or damage caused.
The TPLF has accused Ethiopia of gaining Eritrean military support in the fighting, an accusation Ethiopia denies.
The group claimed responsibility for similar attacks in Eritrea two weeks ago, but there was no immediate comment from its leaders on Friday.
Abiy, who ordered the “final” offensive against TPLF forces in Mekele after the deadline for his surrender expired earlier this week, said “great care” will be taken to protect civilians and prevent the city from suffering. Serious damage.
Humanitarian crisis
The prospect of a full-scale attack accelerated diplomatic efforts this week to resolve the conflict, with the UN Security Council holding its first meeting on Tigray and US and European officials urging restraint.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who met with his Ethiopian counterpart Demeke Mekonnen in Paris on Thursday, called for urgent measures to protect civilians as the humanitarian consequences of the crisis in the region worsened. .
UNHCR said on Friday that nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees in Tigray could be left without food as of Monday if supplies cannot reach them.
Meanwhile, in eastern Sudan, where more than 40,000 refugees have escaped the fighting in Tigray, local authorities are struggling to meet the sudden increase in demand for food, shelter and other essentials to save lives.
(AFP)
