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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Monday the Tigray region's dissident leaders had fled west of the regional capital after weeks of fighting but indicated federal forces were monitoring them closely and would attack them soon.
Abiy, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, this month ordered military operations against leaders of Tigray's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in response to what he said were TPLF-organised attacks on Ethiopian federal army camps.
More than three weeks of fighting between federal soldiers and pro-TPLF forces has left thousands dead in the northern region, and prompted tens of thousands of refugees to flee across the border into Sudan.
"I want them to hear me: yesterday evening, around midnight, we saw them from the situation room in the area between Hagere Selam and Abiy Addi," Abiy said in remarks to lawmakers, referring to two towns west of the Tigray capital Mekele.
"We didn't attack them at night because as they retreated they took their wives, children and abducted soldiers... But this will not continue."
The fighting has been a dramatic escalation of tensions between Abiy and the leaders of the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before anti-government protests swept Abiy to office in 2018.
Abiy said on Saturday the military operations were "completed" after federal forces claimed control of the Tigray regional capital Mekele.
The TPLF leaders, however, have repeatedly vowed to fight on as long as federal forces are on Tigrayan soil.
Their exact whereabouts remain unknown.
'Mekele is ours'
As the Ethiopian military bore down on Mekele last week, global concern mounted about a possible bloodbath in a city that, before the conflict, had a population of half a million.
A communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify claims from both sides about how the fighting is going.
On Monday, Abiy claimed soldiers did not kill any civilians as they took over Mekele and other cities in Tigray.
"Mekele is ours, it was built with our own resources. We are not going to destroy it," he said. "Not even a single person was harmed by the operation in Mekele."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday that hospitals in Mekele were flooded with trauma patients, though it did not specify how the injuries were sustained.
Abiy also dismissed claims from TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael that airstrikes had resulted in many civilian casualties.
As Abiy tries to shift towards helping Tigray recover, the national human rights body called Monday for telecommunications to be restored and for water, electricity, and health services to resume.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is government-affiliated but independent, also noted "complaints of ethnic profiling" including "forced leave from work" and travel restrictions.
"EHRC is gravely concerned that while there is no government policy nor legal framework condoning ethnic profiling, security measures designed t
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 Department of Immigration has reduced its staffing levels at border posts to curb the spread of COVID-19 amid a rise in the number of travellers using illegal entry points to dodge scrutiny at the country’s borders. BY HARRIET CHIKANDIWA/GARIKAI MAFIRAKUREVA This was revealed in Parliament yesterday by Respect Gono, the chief director of immigration when she appeared before the Levi Mayihlome-led Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Home Affairs. Gono said the border jumpers were posing COVID-19 challenges at the country’s entry points as they dodged check-up procedures. Border posts now require travellers to produce COVID-19 certificates to show that they were not infected by the virus. “The department is facing challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic and there has been an apparent upsurge in the number of travellers using undesignated crossing points as people seek ways to breach the travel restrictions,” Gono said. “There are delays in the processing of certain permits due to the fact that we have been operating with skeletal staff. There is also lack of funding and shortages of accommodation for staff.” The Immigration Department boss said due to COVID-19, they were forced to reduce personnel manning borders, as well as to reduce working hours. She said issuance of visas and permits was also suspended. Gono told MPs that corruption was another scourge undermining the performance of the department. She also requested for government support to install an online border management system to capture identities of persons entering the country and detect counterfeit documents from travellers. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is said to be losing thousands of dollars through porousness at Sango Border Post where rampant smuggling of goods and second-hand bclothes, illicit drugs and tobacco cigarettes and whiskies is taking place. It is also alleged that some corrupt Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officials were assisting smugglers to smuggle precious minerals and ivory into Mozambique, which then finds its way to the European and Asian markets.
[New Times] The number of teachers in pre-primary schools is set to be increased from the current 33 to 613 in this fiscal year, according to the ministry of education.
The interesting thing about this pandemic is that, unlike a friend’s choice to go vegan or buy a dog from a breeder, this is temporary. Very temporary. It might be a shame to make a permanent decision based on a temporary circumstance.
[Nation] MPs will today vote on proposals to improve benefits for health workers including medical cover and higher allowances as well as compel public hospitals not to charge Covid-19 patients for protective gear.
[RFI] Ethiopia's army captured the town of Alamata, in southern Tigray, 115 kilometres from the regional capital Mekelle, according to a statement on Monday by the Ethiopian government, as a conflict between the federal government and Tigray region continues to escalate.
The Ethiopian government said on Monday it had not asked any country to mediate in a conflict in its northern region as the federal air force bombed the Tigrayan capital Mekelle, according to diplomatic and military sources.
Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni had tweeted a call for the conflict to stop. Mr Museveni's tweet would later be deleted.
Kenya and Djibouti urged a peaceful resolution and the opening of humanitarian corridors while former Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo went to Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced Tuesday that the ongoing military operation in the breakaway region of Tigray (North) will enter its \"final\" phase in the \"coming days\".
On November 4, Abiy sent the federal army to attack the northern region after months of tensions with the regional authorities of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
The fighting has left several hundred people dead, according to Addis Ababa, and has forced more than 25,000 people to flee to neighboring Sudan.
Tension between Amhara and Tigray, two of Ethiopia's most powerful regions, is increasing as the country approaches elections next year, says a new International Crisis Group report.
But it is the dispute between the Amhara and Tigray regions, the new report says, that “is arguably the bitterest of these contests, fueled in part by rising ethnic nationalism in both regions.”
William Davison, the Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Ethiopia, tells VOA that Amhara citizens believe that several key zones, notably the Wolqait and Raya areas, were annexed by Tigray when the current Ethiopian federation was mapped out in the early 1990s.
Plans to hold a vote have led political elites in Tigray and Amhara to adopt increasingly hardline stances toward each other, the report says, noting a recent warning from Prime Minister Abiy that any such act would “result in harm to the country and the people.”
But Dessalegn Chanie Dagnew, chairman of the opposition National Movement of Amhara, said via a messaging app that Ethiopia’s regional map based on ethnic territories has been the root cause of many tensions, not just between the Amhara and Tigray regions, but many others.
[Monitor] Uganda's last attempt to make the U20 Africa Cup of Nations ended in disappointing fashion but with heads held high.
Forces of Libyan Marshal Khalifa Haftar confirmed their “redeployment” out of Tripoli, after their rivals announced the total reconquest of the Libyan capital following heavy fighting.
On Thursday, the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNA) said it had regained control of the entire western city of Tripoli, another setback for rival troops of Marshal Haftar, a Libyan strongman from the east.
“We are announcing the redeployment of our forces out of Tripoli on condition that the other side respects a ceasefire,” said Haftar’s spokesman, Ahmad al-Mesmari.
On Wednesday, the UN announced the resumption in Geneva of negotiations —suspended for more than three months— of the 5+5 military committee, a body comprising five pro-GNA and five pro-Haftar members, aimed at achieving a cease-fire in a conflict between the two sides which erupted in April 2019.
Since pro-Haftar forces launched an offensive in April 2019 to seize the capital, the headquarters of the GNA, hundreds of people, including many civilians, have been killed and some 200,000 have fled their homes.
[New Frame] Americans love to promote the myth that they have the corner on government by and for the people, but the latest brouhaha at the polls suggests otherwise.
[Nairobi News] The African diaspora is seeking a role in helping the continent's recovery efforts from Covid-19; with focus on investments in the most battered areas of the economy.
By Barnett Wright The Birmingham Times Josh Carpenter, Director of the City of Birmingham's Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity, is stepping down effective Nov. 30. Carpenter has been with Mayor Randall Woodfin’s administration for the past three years in a note to colleagues and friends late Monday said he’s enjoyed a job “in a […]
To put it simply, COVID-19 won't just disappear any time soon. Here are the neighbourhoods and sub-districts that have been branded 'virus hot-spots'.
