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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed addresses lawmakers on the country’s current situation inside the parliament buildings in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 3, 2020. REUTERS / Tiksa Negeri reuters_tickers
This content was published on Nov 27, 2020 – 11:07
ADDIS ABABA / NAIROBI (Reuters) – African peace envoys were due to meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday, a day after he said the army was beginning the “final phase” of an offensive in the northern region of Tigray that human rights groups fear it could bring heavy civilian casualties.
The government had given the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) until Wednesday to lay down its arms or face an assault on Mekelle, the regional capital of 500,000 people. The United Nations says 200 humanitarian workers are also in the city.
The envoys were due to meet with Abiy at 11 am (0800 GMT), said Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the government’s State of Emergency Task Force for the Tigray conflict.
The African Union envoys were in Addis Ababa “with a view to helping mediate between the warring parties” in Ethiopia, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also the president of the AU, said earlier this week.
Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for ending a two-decade standoff with Eritrea, has said he will not speak to TPLF leaders until they are defeated or surrender.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in airstrikes and ground fighting since the war began on November 4. The United Nations estimates that 1.1 million Ethiopians will need aid as a result of the conflict.
The conflict has caused shock waves in the Horn of Africa. More than 43,000 refugees have fled to Sudan. The TPLF rockets have reached the capital of neighboring Eritrea.
Reuters was unable to reach the TPLF for comment on Friday morning, but two diplomats said fighting broke out in several areas outside of Mekelle. A Mekelle resident said the city itself was quiet Thursday night.
With telephone and Internet connections closed to the region and access to the area strictly controlled, verifying the claims of all parties has been impossible.
Ditches
There was no indication that the Ethiopian army had entered the city of Mekelle. The TPLF has previously said it was digging trenches around the city. Reuters was unable to verify those claims.
Finance Minister Ahmed Shide said on Thursday that the government was trying to make the people of the city aware of the military operation.
“We have made the people of Mekelle aware of the operation by deploying military helicopters and dropping leaflets in Tigrinya and also in Amharic to protect themselves against this,” he told France24.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said such efforts were not similar to protecting civilians from harm.
“The warnings do not absolve the Ethiopian military of the duty to protect civilians during military operations in urban areas,” Roth tweeted on Thursday. Urging the TPLF not to deploy its forces among the civilian population in Mekelle, he added: “Violations on one side do not justify violations on the other.”
Abiy’s office said on Thursday that authorities were opening a humanitarian access route, but the UN said it had no information on the route and that the region was blocked from aid groups.
The Tigrayans, who make up about 6% of Ethiopia’s 115 million people, dominated the government until Abiy took power two years ago.
Abiy promised to unite Ethiopians and introduce freedoms after years of state repression that filled prisons with tens of thousands of political prisoners. His government also prosecuted senior Tigray officials for crimes such as corruption, torture and murder. The region viewed those trials as discrimination.
Abiy accuses the Tigray leaders of starting the war by attacking federal troops at a base in Tigray three weeks ago. The TPLF has described the attack as a preemptive strike.
The Tigrayan forces have large reserves of military equipment and number up to 250,000 men, experts say, while the region has a history of guerrilla resistance.
(Addis Ababa newsroom report, David Lewis, Katharine Houreld, Omar Mohammed, Maggie Fick; written by Maggie Fick; edited by Giles Elgood)
