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The Amhara regional government says the TPLF fired rockets into the city of Bahir Dar as federal forces advance towards the Tigrayan capital, Makelle.
Forces from Ethiopia’s Tigray region have fired rockets at the city of Bahir Dar in neighboring Amhara region, but no casualties or damage were reported, the Amhara government said, as federal forces headed toward the capital of Tigrayan. .
“The illegal group TPLF launched a rocket attack around 01:40 am [22:40 GMT on Thursday] in Bahir Dar, ”the Amhara regional government communications office said on its Facebook page on Friday, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
“The rockets have caused no damage,” the message added.
The northern-based TPLF effectively ruled Ethiopia for decades as the most powerful force in a multi-ethnic coalition, until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power two years ago.
An Ethiopian boy who fled the war in the Tigray region carries his plate as he queues for food at Um-Rakoba camp, on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in al-Gadarif state, Sudan. [Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters]
The Abiy government says the TPLF has reneged and is holding power in Tigray illegally. Tensions rose after the government accused the TPLF of attacking federal troops.
But the TPLF says the war is part of an unconstitutional assault on regional rights. Both sides accuse the other of atrocities and blocking humanitarian aid.
Amhara, which has a long-standing border dispute with Tigray, has sent regional forces in support of federal troops.
The conflict in northern Ethiopia has killed hundreds in the past two weeks, sent 33,000 refugees to Sudan, and questioned whether Abiy, Africa’s youngest leader and winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, can sustain united to his ethnically divided nation before the next national elections. year.
He released thousands of political prisoners, lifted bans on many political parties, and brought many former regime officials to trial for crimes such as murder or corruption. The Tigrayans accused him of purging them from positions of power, charges that his government denies.
There have also been reports of ethnically motivated killings.
The international rights group Amnesty International documented a mass killing of civilians by what it says were Tigrayan forces between 9 and 10 November, and refugees fleeing the conflict to Sudan have said they were targeted because they were Tigrayan.
Tigray’s forces accused the government of bombing a university in Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, on Thursday. There was no immediate response from the government, although officials have said they are only hitting military targets.
It has been impossible to verify the claims of all parties because telephone lines and Internet connections to Tigray have been down since the beginning of the conflict.
Ethiopia said on Thursday it was closing in on Mekelle as rebels claimed they are fighting to defend it.
Ethiopian men who fled the conflict in the Tigray region queue for food at the Um-Rakoba camp, on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in al-Gadarif state, Sudan [Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/Reuters]
Also on Thursday, the Ethiopian military accused the most prominent Tigrayan abroad, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, of trying to obtain weapons and diplomatic backing for the TPLF.
Ethiopian army chief Birhanu Jula called Tedros, who served as a minister in an Ethiopian coalition government led by the TPLF for more than a decade before taking command of the world health body, “a criminal.” Birhanu did not provide evidence.
In a message on Twitter, Tedros denied the accusation and called on all parties in Ethiopia to work for peace, the safety of civilians and access to health and humanitarian aid for those in need.
“There have been reports that suggest that I am taking sides in this situation. This is not true and I want to say that I am on one side and that is the side of peace ”. Tedros said.
Ethiopia, the second most populous nation in Africa with 115 million people, is a federation of 10 states administered by separate ethnic groups, many of which have used the new freedoms that were under Abiy to fight with the federal government and each other for more power and money. or land.
Of these, mountainous Tigray, which makes up about 5 percent of the population, is smaller but has a long history of dominating security services. The region spearheaded a conflict that toppled a communist government in 1991.
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