BOMBING CIVILIANS
Witnesses: Ethiopian military airstrikes hit Tigray capital


FILE - In this Thursday, May 6, 2021 file photo, the city of Mekele is seen through a bullet hole in a stairway window of the Ayder Referral Hospital, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. Ethiopian military airstrikes have hit the capital of the country's Tigray region Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, according to witnesses. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

CARA ANNA
Mon, October 18, 2021, 6:13 AM·3 min read


NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopian military airstrikes hit the capital of the country’s Tigray region and killed at least three people, witnesses said Monday, returning the war abruptly to the city of Mekele after several months of peace.

The airstrikes came days after a new military offensive was launched against the Tigray forces who have been fighting Ethiopian and allied forces for nearly a year.

Mekele hasn't seen fighting since late June, when the Tigray forces retook much of the region and Ethiopian troops withdrew. Since then, Ethiopia's federal government has called all able citizens to crush the Tigray fighters who dominated the national government for 27 years before being sidelined by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. What began as a political dispute in Africa's second-most populous country has now killed thousands of people.

The state-owned Ethiopian Press Agency, citing the air force, reported that “communication towers and equipment” were attacked and that “utmost care was made to avoid civilian casualties.”

One Mekele resident, Kindeya Gebrehiwot, a spokesman for the Tigray authorities, told The Associated Press that a market was bombed. Another resident, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the first airstrike occurred just outside the city and three children from the same family were killed. The resident said at least seven people were wounded in the second airstrike, which also damaged a hotel.

The Tigray region, along with the current areas of fighting in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, are under a communications blackout, making it challenging to verify information.

The Tigray forces have said they are trying to pressure Ethiopia's government to lift a deadly blockade imposed on the Tigray region since the dramatic turn in the war in June. But witnesses in the Amhara region have alleged door-to-door killings and other atrocities against civilians by the Tigray fighters — an echo of the atrocities that Tigrayans reported at the hands of Ethiopian and allied forces earlier in the war.

The new offensive rages despite pressure from the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and other African nations for a cease-fire, talks and humanitarian access. The U.S. a month ago threatened a new round of targeted sanctions if steps toward those goals weren't taken quickly.

Instead, the warring sides have shown no sign of stopping.

“The possibility for peaceful dialogue, which the people of Tigray had waited for, has no hope,” the Tigray forces said in a statement on Sunday.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters they were trying to verify details of Monday's airstrikes.

“What is clear is that civilians should never be targeted. Civilian infrastructure should never be targeted. Those are basic humanitarian principles,” he said.

The fighting is reducing U.N. aid operations during a time of growing need, Dujarric said, and the absence of essential supplies such as fuel in Tigray has led several humanitarian groups including the U.N. to reduce their presence in the region in the past week. He did not say how many U.N. staffers are in Mekele; there are several hundred in Tigray and about 1,300 humanitarian workers overall.

An Ethiopian Foreign Ministry statement on Monday said it was “absurd to expect unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid to the Tigray region while the (Tigray forces are) actively attacking neighboring areas.”

The last time the Ethiopian military carried out an airstrike near Mekele was in June, when a market in Togoga outside the city was hit and at least 64 civilians were killed. Soldiers for hours blocked medical teams from responding to victims.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

Tigray: Ethiopian government admits Mekelle airstrike


BBC
Mon, October 18, 2021

People within the city of Mekelle reported airstrikes on Monday (stock image)

Ethiopia has admitted it was behind airstrikes in the capital of the conflict-riven Tigray region - hours after it denied it had carried out what rebels say were deadly raids.

The state-run news agency said the attacks had targeted rebel's communications and weapons facilities.

But media controlled by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) said three civilians had been killed.

The rebel group is at war with Ethiopia's federal government.

The government initially denied the allegations it had struck targets in Tigray's capital, Mekelle.

"Why would the Ethiopian government attack its own city? Mekelle is an Ethiopian city," government spokesman Legesse Tulu asked.


EXPLAINER: Ethiopia's Tigray war - and how it erupted


ANALYSIS: Can Ethiopia be pulled back from the brink?


PROFILE: The Nobel Peace Prize winner who went to war

Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs went on to accuse the TPLF of killing at least 30 civilians in recent attacks in Amhara and Afar regional states, which both border Tigray.

"Terrorists are the ones who attack cities with innocent civilians in them, not government," Mr Legesse added.

But hours afterwards, state media said it had carried out successful strikes with the aim of preventing civilian casualties.

The TPLF still says this is not the case, accusing the government of deliberately carrying out two strikes on market day.

Meanwhile, the TPLF, which regards itself as the legitimate authority in Tigray, has not responded to the allegations its forces were behind the deaths of any civilians.

It is difficult to independently confirm details as there is a communications blackout in the region.

The Ethiopian army took control of most of the northern region of Tigray in November 2020, after TPLF forces seized a military base.

Since then, the 11-month conflict has caused a humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations warning in July that about 400,000 people were living in famine-like conditions in Tigray.

Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, and another two million have been forced to flee their homes.

In June 2021, the rebels recaptured Tigray in a surprise attack, and then moved into parts of neighbouring regions like Amhara.

Ethiopia has declared the TPLF a terrorist organisation, but the TPLF insists that it is the legitimate government in Tigray.

Tigray - the basics


Since 1994, Ethiopia has been divided into states, now numbering 10; they are defined on ethnic grounds by the constitution and described as largely autonomous, but with central institutions


In 2018, following anti-government protests, Abiy Ahmed took over as prime minister and introduced reforms


Powerful politicians from Tigray, Ethiopia's northernmost state, accused Mr Abiy of trying to increase federal power


Relations worsened and, after the government accused Tigrayan rebels of attacking military bases, the Ethiopian army moved in in November, backed by Eritrean troops


Mr Abiy declared the conflict over in late November, but fighting has continued