Tigray forces claim to have shot down an Ethiopian plane and taken a city – Africa – World

Rebel forces in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia said they shot down a military plane and retaken a city from federal forces on Sunday, a day after the prime minister announced that federal troops had seized the regional capital and that military operations were complete.

There was no immediate comment from the government or the military on the claims made by Debretsion Gebremichael, leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in text messages to Reuters.

Claims from all sides are difficult to verify as telephone and internet links to Tigray have been down and access is strictly controlled since the fighting began on November 4.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has been trying to quell a rebellion by the TPLF, a powerful ethnic-based party that dominated the central government from 1991 until Abiy came to power in 2018.

Thousands of people are believed to have died and nearly 44,000 have fled to Sudan since the fighting began. The conflict has been another test for Abiy, who took office two years ago and is trying to hold together a mosaic of ethnic groups that make up Ethiopia’s 115 million people.

Abiy said Saturday night that federal troops had taken control of Mekelle, the capital of Tigrayan, within hours of launching an offensive there, ending fears of a protracted fighting in the city of 500,000 people.

The prime minister, who refers to the three-week conflict as an internal public order matter and has rejected international offers of mediation, said the federal police would now try to arrest the TPLF “criminals” and take them to court.

It was unclear if any TPLF leaders had surrendered or been arrested since Saturday. His whereabouts are also unknown.

TPLF leader Debretsion said Saturday night in a series of text messages to Reuters that his forces were withdrawing from the surrounding city but would continue to fight, raising the specter of a protracted guerrilla war.

In text messages on Sunday, he said his forces had shot down an Ethiopian military plane and captured the pilot, and had also retaken the city of Axum.

Also Sunday, Ethiopian state television (ETV) said Sunday that 70 graves, some individual and others containing multiple bodies, were found in the town of Humera in Tigray. The newsreader did not say who may have killed the people buried in the graves.

Diplomats and regional experts have warned that a quick military victory may not signal the end of the conflict.

The TPLF has a history of guerrilla resistance. The mountainous terrain of Tigray and the borders with Sudan and Eritrea aided the TPLF during its long struggle against the Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, whom it finally overthrew in 1991.

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