Fighting in Tigray – Ethiopia: Bloody conflict behind closed doors – News

The fighting has been going on in the Tigray region for about three weeks. On Wednesday night the ultimatum with which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had asked the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to surrender expired. Abiy has now announced a military offensive, but information from the region is barely available, says SRF Africa correspondent Anna Lemmenmeier.

Anna Lemmenmeier

Africa Correspondent

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Anna Lemmenmeier has been with us since 2017 Africa Correspondent, Link opens in a new window of Radio SRF and lives in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Prior to that, he was a member of SRF’s commercial editorial team. He studied international relations, history and international law at the Universities of Bern, Geneva and Ghana.

SRF News: What happened in Ethiopia after Ahmed’s ultimatum to the TPLF expired?

Anna Lemmenmeier: We don’t know much about it. According to the BBC, nothing happened until this morning. That is the crazy thing about the conflict: it has developed practically behind closed doors since the Ethiopian government cut off all information channels in the region on November 4.

Abiy orders to attack Mekelle

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On Wednesday evening, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a final military offensive, as he announced on Facebook. Residents of Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, are asked to lay down their arms, stay in their homes and stay away from military targets. Efforts will be made to protect civilians during the offensive, he said. In recent days, the Ethiopian armed forces had advanced towards Mekelle. (reuters)

Six million people are affected by the armed conflict in the Tigray region. What does that mean for you?

There are no Internet connections there and telephone lines to the region are interrupted. Whatsapp shows that people in the region were last online on November 3.

Relatives do not know how their relatives are doing in the Tigray region, journalists and aid organizations are not allowed there. The Ethiopian government is in control of the information coming out of the conflict area. That is why it is so difficult to report what happens there.

Ethnic conflict over Tigray

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According to the government, the trigger for the fighting is an armed attack by TPLF fighters against government troops stationed in Tigray. The ruling TPLF party in Tigray accuses Abiy of persecuting them and expelling their politicians from government and security positions. Several thousand people are said to have died since the fighting began on November 4 and more than 40,000 have fled to Sudan.

Ethnic groups play an important role in the conflict. Ethiopia, a federation of ten ethnic regions, was dominated by Tigray for decades until Abiy became prime minister two years ago. The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize belongs to the largest population group in Oromo. They make up about a third of Ethiopia’s population. (reuters)

Is there any information that comes out?

In the past three weeks, more than 40,000 people have fled to Sudan. They say, for example, that people in Tigray were slaughtered with knives or machetes.

Amnesty International compiled the reports. It was revealed that a gruesome massacre had taken place on November 9. But to this day it is not known who massacred whom and in what numbers: if the perpetrators were Tigray militias or people close to the Ethiopian government. It is also unclear whether specific ethnic groups were targeted.

The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, asked those involved to protect the civilian population in the conflict. Do we have to fear that there will be more atrocities?

The Ethiopian government’s rhetoric surrounding the ultimatum to the TPLF was very disturbing. He spoke about the fact that there would be no mercy for the inhabitants of the provincial capital, Mekelle. Civilians in the city of 500,000 would not be spared if they did not distance themselves from the TPLF, it was said. This prompted the UN to warn of possible war crimes.

Is that why the Abiy government resists any international interference?

Any government would defend itself against this. Whenever a country is accused of human rights abuses, it is always argued that it is a national matter. Abjy does too.

How can the conflict over Tigray be resolved?

At the moment, the rhetoric from both sides sounds very relentless, it does not appear that the two warring parties are ready to speak for the foreseeable future. After all, the African Union has sent a delegation to the capital, Addis Ababa. But there are no reports yet on whether the talks have already taken place.

Interview conducted by Salvador Atasoy.