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ADDIS ABABA – The leader of Ethiopia’s rebel Tigray region confirmed on Sunday that his forces had fired rockets at the airport in Eritrea’s capital, a major escalation raising fears of a broader war in the Horn of Africa region.
Accusing neighboring Eritrea of sending tanks and thousands of troops to Tigray in support of an Ethiopian government offensive, Debretsion Gebremichael said his forces were under attack “on several fronts”.
“Our country is attacking us with a foreign country, Eritrea. Treason!” Debretsion said in text messages to Reuters, without providing any further details or proof of his claims.
With access restricted and most communications in Tigray, Reuters was unable to independently verify claims made by all parties about the conflict.
Government officials in Eritrea and the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa could not immediately be reached for comment.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted on Sunday that Ethiopia was more than capable of achieving its goals in Tigray “on its own” but did not specifically address Debretsion’s claims.
Last week, Eritrea’s Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed denied that his country had sent forces to Ethiopia, telling Reuters: “We are not part of the conflict.”
Abiy launched the campaign in Tigray on November 4 after accusing local forces of targeting federal troops based in the northern state, which borders Eritrea and Sudan and is home to some 5 million people. The government accuses the Tigray leaders of treason and says their military operations are aimed at restoring the rule of law.
The conflict has killed hundreds of people on both sides, sent thousands to flee to Sudan and threatens to destabilize other parts of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.
DEVASTATING WAR
Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a devastating war from 1998-2000. Abiy won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for making peace with Ethiopia’s neighbor, but the Eritrean government remains hostile to Tigray’s leadership after its role in that war.
Five regional diplomats told Reuters that at least three rockets were fired at the Eritrean capital from Ethiopia on Saturday night. At least two of the rockets hit the Asmara airport, three of the diplomats said.
However, the US embassy in Asmara said in an alert to US citizens on Sunday that there was no indication that the airport had been hit.
Telephone lines to Eritrea were disrupted after the rocket attacks reported Saturday night. Shortly before they lost communication, Asmara residents reported a power outage and said some people were leaving the city out of fear, a diplomat told Reuters.
Debretsion told Reuters that Eritrea had deployed 16 divisions to Ethiopia, but did not provide specific numbers of troops. Eritrea has a vast permanent army that the US CIA estimates at 200,000.
Tigray’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), also accused Abiy of using drones from a military base in Eritrea belonging to the United Arab Emirates to attack the region.
“Abiy is now enlisting the support of UAE drones based in Assab in its devastating war against the people of Tigray,” party spokesman Getachew Reda said in a tweet on Sunday. UAE officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Several Ethiopian refugees who arrived in the Sudanese border town of Hamdayat told Reuters on Saturday that their areas had been bombed from Eritrea. Reuters was unable to independently verify this.
“We were bombarded by artillery shells from across the border with Eritrea,” said Naksiam Guru, a 22-year-old refugee living near the border. “I saw people dying in the streets.”
At least 20,000 Ethiopians have crossed into Sudan, the United Nations refugee agency said on Sunday. The UN and local aid agencies are trying to help the refugees, who have arrived with few possessions or supplies.
The fighting has also spread to Ethiopia’s Amhara state, which has sent troops to Tigray in support of Abiy. Late on Friday, rockets were fired at two airports in Amhara in what the TPLF said was retaliation for government airstrikes against its region.
The Abiy government says the army has been carrying out airstrikes in an attempt to destroy warehouses of weapons and other equipment controlled by the Tigray insurgent forces, who according to experts possess significant military equipment.
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