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Over 400 000 people have "crossed the threshold into famine" in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region, a senior UN official said on Friday, appealing for urgent humanitarian action to help the millions affected by the brutal eight-month long conflict.
He replaces Debretsion Gebremichael, whose immunity from prosecution was removed Thursday.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said Thursday that scores of civilians were killed in a \"massacre\" in the Tigray region, that witnesses blamed on forces backing the local ruling party.
The \"massacre\" is the first reported incident of large-scale civilian fatalities in a week-old conflict between the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
\"Amnesty International can today confirm... that scores, and likely hundreds, of people were stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra (May Cadera) town in the southwest of Ethiopia's Tigray Region on the night of 9 November,\" the rights group said in a report.
Amnesty said it had \"digitally verified gruesome photographs and videos of bodies strewn across the town or being carried away on stretchers.\"
The dead \"had gaping wounds that appear to have been inflicted by sharp weapons such as knives and machetes,\" Amnesty said, citing witness accounts.
Witnesses said the attack was carried out by TPLF-aligned forces after a defeat at the hands of the Ethiopian military, though Amnesty said it \"has not been able to confirm who was responsible for the killings\".
It nonetheless called on TPLF commanders and officials to \"make clear to their forces and their supporters that deliberate attacks on civilians are absolutely prohibited and constitute war crimes\".
Abiy ordered military operations in Tigray on November 4, saying they were prompted by a TPLF attack on federal military camps -- a claim the party denies.
The region has been under a communications blackout ever since, making it difficult to verify competing claims on the ground.
Abiy said Thursday his army had made major gains in western Tigray.
Thousands of Ethiopians have fled across the border into neighboring Sudan, and the UN is sounding the alarm about a humanitarian crisis in Tigray.
The Ethiopian government says operations by its defence forces are underway in Tigray its northern region
The move comes after the government of prime minister Abiy Ahmed declared an “unexpected war” on it’s northern state, threatening the stability of one of the world’s most strategic regions, the Horn of Africa.
Birhanu Jula Gelalcha, Deputy Chief of the Ethiopian Army described the war a shameful one. \"O ur country has entered into a war that it did not want. This war is a shameful war. It does not have a point. The people of Tigray and its youth and its security forces should not die for this pointless war. Ethiopia is their country.\" the army chief explained.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) are accused of an unprovoked attack on the Ethiopian army’s northern command, and of trying to loot its weapons.
Tensions between the government and TPLF, which used to be part of the governing coalition before falling out with Mr Abiy, have escalated in recent months.
The TPLF has accused Abiy’s administration of trying to destroy Tigray’s right to self-determination and conspiring with Ethiopia’s northern neighbour Eritrea to stage a military attack.
(Tigrinya) Debretsion Gebremichael, President of the Tigray Regional State. berated the government's move.
\"In the regions around Tigray there is a massing of military forces. Consequently I have announced at a news conference to say that they are surrounding us with their forces. I stated that they have decided to go to war and we should all prepare to foil it. This is our proclamation, so let it be clear\". Gebremicheal said.
He stressed there was no reason for this because the people of Tigray held an election. \"There was nothing new that happened. This is the action of a self-loving government that is trying to resolve, albeit though not possible, political differences through force, weapons, and war. That is why they have declared war on the people of Tigray.\"
On Tuesday, the federal parliament proposed that the TPLF be designated as a \"terrorist organisation.\"
The UN Security Council is planning to discuss Western Sahara diplomats have said, after US President Donald Trump recognised Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed region.
[DW] Hundreds have died in the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region and thousands more have fled. As the TPLF and Ahmed trade jabs, thousands of refugees are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Sudanese camps.
[East African] Ethiopian lawmakers on Thursday designated Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) as terrorist organisations.
The Conflict Gets Worse
The Tigrayan regional government has fired rockets at two airports in the neighbouring Amhara region in Ethiopia with spokesman Reda asserting that further retaliation could continue and even Asmara in Eritrea could be targeted. The Ethiopian federal government confirmed that Gondar and Bahir Dar airports were damaged in the strikes late Friday — as the deadly conflict threatens to spread to not only other parts of Africa's second-most populous country but more areas in the horn of Africa.
Since the conflict began Nov 4th, reports from the Tigray region — still under a national state of emergency, see hundreds of people on both sides losing their lives and over 21,000 Ethiopians fleeing to neighbouring Eastern Sudan.
Many authorities in the international community who caution against inter-ethnic genocide fear a possible all-out civil war — compounded by the already chaélengiong Covid-19 pandemic.
Ethiopian TV on Wednesday released video from the capital city of Tigray Region where life appears to be slowly returning to normal.
Deadly conflict has cut off Ethiopia’s Tigray region from the world as fighting broke out between the federal and Tigray regional governments.
Each regarded the other as illegal in a power struggle that has been months in the making.
The video shows the Ethiopian military moving on the main streets of Mekele.
One resident says shops and businesses are starting to re-open a month after hostilities broke out.
The Ethiopian military is also seen in the video in an alleged abandoned weapons warehouses in the city.
Communications and transport links remain almost completely severed to Tigray, and the fugitive leader of the defiant regional government this week said that fighting continues despite Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's declaration of victory.
UN given 'unconditional' aid access to Ethiopia's Tigray
It remains almost impossible to verify either side’s claims as the conflict threatens to destabilize both the country and the entire Horn of Africa.
In a breakthrough the United Nations said on Wednesday it and the Ethiopian government had signed a deal to allow “unimpeded” humanitarian access, at least for areas under federal government control, allowing food, medicines and other aid into the region of 6 million people.
By CARA ANNA Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — More than 350 former Peace Corps volunteers and a trio of former U.S. ambassadors have written to U.S. congressmen urging them to condemn the violence in Ethiopia's Tigray region, warning that 'as the fighting ostensibly winds down, we are quite sure that the war will continue on a much more pernicious level.' The letter seen by The Associated Press also asks lawmakers to press for humanitarian aid to all parts of Tigray, urge the United Nations to investigate and advocate for media access to the region 'to document human rights abuses.' […]
The post Ex-Peace Corps volunteers plead with US for help on Tigray appeared first on Black News Channel.
[Nation] British lawyer Karim Khan has been elected the new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, replacing Gambian Fatou Bensouda.
