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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Ethiopia’s prime minister said Friday that his government has carried out airstrikes against forces in the country’s well-armed Tigray region, claiming the attacks at multiple locations “completely destroyed rockets and other heavy weapons “and made it impossible. for a retaliatory attack.
Abiy Ahmed’s evening announcement marked another escalation in fighting this week that experts say. it could lead one of the most powerful and populous countries in Africa into civil war.
No casualties were mentioned in what Abiy called the “first round of operations” against the region’s government, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. He said the air force destroyed heavy weapons in the capital of Tigray, Mekele, and surrounding areas, claiming that the TPLF “has a desire to use them.”
The operation will continue, Abiy said, “until the board is held accountable by law.”
There was no immediate response from the Tigray government, as the region is increasingly locked in by movement restrictions and a six-month state of emergency imposed by the federal government.
Hours earlier, the prime minister defended the military operations that began early Wednesday morning after Abiy accused the Tigray government of a deadly attack on a military base. He claimed that months of patiently trying to resolve differences with the regional government have failed due to the leadership’s “criminal arrogance and intransigence.”
And with that, the prime minister appeared to close the door to dialogue, which some experts and diplomats say is desperately needed.
He stated that the “large-scale police operation” has “clear, limited and achievable objectives: to restore the rule of law and constitutional order.”
The prime minister, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his sweeping political reforms, faces his biggest test as the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopia’s government before taking office in 2018, has backed down while feeling marginalized. .
The northern region of Tigray is increasingly isolated. Ethiopia’s civil aviation authority said Mekele airports and the regional cities of Shire, Axum and Humera were closed. In Sudan, the acting governor of Kassla province said his border with northern Ethiopia has been closed “until further notice” due to tensions, the Sudan News Agency reported.
Experts say the civil war would be catastrophic and destabilizing for the Horn of Africa. It was unclear what mediation efforts might be underway; the Ethiopia-based African Union has not issued a statement.
Aid groups warn that a humanitarian disaster is brewing if the fighting continues, with the COVID-19 pandemic being one of several crises.
Communications were almost completely cut off in Tigray. They disappeared the moment Abiy made her announcement early Wednesday.
The attack on a military base was “the last straw,” Abiy said on Friday.
The Ethiopian army has said it was deploying troops from across the country to Tigray. The Tigray leader has said “we are ready to be martyrs.” Casualties have been reported on both sides.
It remained a challenge to verify each side’s version of events.
At least one fighter jet flew overhead, but there was no confirmation that it dropped bombs, a source in Ethiopia told The Associated Press, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the matter. Heavy fighting and shelling broke out on Thursday, the source said, and roads to Tigray were closed.
The federal government said on Friday that public gatherings in Tigray and movement in groups of more than four people are not allowed, and no one other than law enforcement can carry weapons.
Federal police claimed that its members guarding 22 locations in Tigray had been attacked by TPLF forces in recent days.
United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet urged Ethiopia’s federal government to restore telephone and Internet services, saying that “cutting off communication has severely hampered the ability to monitor the situation on the ground, particularly the impact of the clashes in the local population. “
But something began to emerge. On Friday, the International Rescue Committee received its first message from colleagues in Tigray.
“There are no active hostilities going on in the areas where we are working,” said George Readings, who leads the group’s global crisis analysis. But “we know that the situation is quite tense.”
Some 90,000 people in Tigray are served by IRC, and he was concerned about how the conflict would affect “so many people who are already so vulnerable.”
Tigray receives refugees from Eritrea (Readings couldn’t say if that border was open) and the region has been hit hard by a locust outbreak. “I should mention that there have also been floods,” he said. “It is a really delicate situation.”
IRC’s Tigray operations have fuel available for next month. “So there is a real question” if travel remains restricted and fighting continues, Readings said.
It was unclear what powerful backers Tigray might have, if any.
Tigray borders Eritrea, which fought a years-long war with Ethiopia before the two countries made peace in 2018. The government of Tigray and Eritrea are not getting along, and the TPLF this week accused Eritrea of partnering with the federal government. from Ethiopia to attack him. .
Eritrea remains one of the world’s most closed nations, but its ambassador to Japan tweeted overnight that “TPLF’s push for militarization, proxy wars and the reactivation of the rules of military combat in the region must now cease. “.
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Meseret reported from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Nona Elhennawy contributed in Cairo.
