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Addis Ababa (AFP)
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed met with African Union envoys on Friday to discuss the conflict in Tigray, where the army is ready for what it has called the final offensive against regional forces.
Abiy, the winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced on Thursday a “third and final phase” in his campaign against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), whose forces have been fighting federal troops in the challenging northern region for three weeks.
The violence has killed many hundreds and displaced tens of thousands more, but there is great fear for half a million civilians in Mekele, the regional capital, which the army claims to have surrounded before a threat of attack.
The international community has warned that such an attack could violate the rules of war and has called for urgent mediation.
Addis Ababa has refused to negotiate with the TPLF and Abiy has rejected calls for dialogue as “interference” in Ethiopia’s internal affairs.
But the prime minister received at his office in Addis Ababa on Friday three former African leaders – Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa – sent this week by the AU as mediators.
In a statement issued after their meeting, Abiy said he appreciated “this gesture and … the strong commitment it demonstrates to the principle of African solutions to African problems.”
Still, the government has a “constitutionally ordered responsibility to enforce the rule of law in the region and throughout the country,” he said.
He added that many attempts had been made to negotiate with the TPLF before military action was ordered on November 4.
The conflict erupted in a year in which the 55-member AU, based in Addis Ababa, resolved to play a more prominent role in conflict resolution across the continent under the slogan “Silence the guns.”
The AU called for an immediate cessation of hostilities on November 10, but the conflict escalated further, with fighter jets bombing the mountainous region and both sides claiming the upper hand.
– Humanitarian crisis –
Tigray has been under a communications blackout since the fighting began, making it difficult to weigh the competing claims about the victims and who has what territory.
On Friday it was unclear if the attack on Mekele had started or how close federal forces were to the city.
The state-affiliated Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation said late Thursday that the military, which in recent days said it was advancing on Mekele with tanks, had identified key TPLF caches throughout the city, including an auditorium and museum.
Abiy, who ordered the attack on TPLF forces in Mekele after the deadline for their surrender, said “great care” will be taken to protect the innocent and prevent the city from suffering serious damage.
The prospect of a full-scale attack accelerated diplomatic efforts this week to resolve the conflict, with the UN Security Council holding its first meeting on Tigray and US and European officials urging restraint.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who met his Ethiopian counterpart Demeke Mekonnen in Paris on Thursday, called for urgent measures to protect civilians as the humanitarian consequences of the crisis worsen in the region.
UNHCR said on Friday that nearly 100,000 Eritrean refugees in Tigray could be left without food as of Monday if supplies cannot reach them.
Meanwhile, in eastern Sudan, where more than 40,000 refugees have escaped the fighting in Tigray, local authorities are struggling to meet the sudden increase in demand for food, shelter and other essentials to save lives.
UNHCR said on Friday that a plane carrying 32 tons of emergency aid had arrived in Sudan and that another airlift carrying 100 tons was expected on Monday.
Refugees crossing the border said that those still trying to reach Sudan were crossing the camps to avoid detection by Ethiopian troops, who said they were blocking the main exit route from Tigray.
Abiy ordered the military to enter Tigray after alleged attacks by TPLF forces on federal army camps in the region.
The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics and controlled its security for the better part of three decades until Abiy came to power in 2018, starting a power struggle between the former rulers and the new leader.
© 2020 AFP
