Ethiopian government forces and allied regional militias have launched an air and ground offensive against Tigrayan rebels in the Amhara region, neighboring the warring Tigray region in the north of the country, sources told AFP on Friday. humanitarian and Tigrayans.
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Military operations have been taking place in various areas of the region since Thursday, humanitarian sources said on condition of anonymity, amid growing fears recently of a possible resumption of fighting in Tigray. This is a "
massive offensive
," said Getachew Reda, spokesman for rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been in conflict for eleven months with government forces.
The offensive includes "
artillery and aerial bombardments, especially by drones,
" added Getachew Reda, denouncing a "
concentration of tens of thousands of troops
" in Amhara, especially in the areas of Gondar and Wollo.
"
We are ready to face this offensive on all fronts, we will hold our positions until the siege is lifted
," he added.
Officials in the Amhara region, federal and military sources did not respond to requests for comment on the offensives, which could not be independently verified by AFP.
New region
On Monday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was appointed for a new five-year term, and if the war in Tigray draws severe criticism, especially from Washington, an ally of Addis Ababa, the prime minister has promised not to bow despite international pressure. “
No friendship should come at the cost of sacrificing Ethiopia's honor
,” he said.
Tigray has been in the throes of fighting since November, when Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize 2019, sent the Ethiopian army there to overthrow the regional authorities from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a long-ruling party. in Addis Ababa, which he accuses of orchestrating attacks against federal military camps.
The conflict stalled for several months, before pro-TPLF fighters unexpectedly regained control of the region in late June and government troops largely withdrew.
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Since then, the fighting has spread to the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara. And Tigray is subject to what the UN describes as a “
de facto humanitarian blockade
”, fueling fears of a large-scale famine like what Ethiopia experienced in the 1980s. recently emerged on a possible government offensive with the end of the rainy season and a massive mobilization across the country, especially in the Amhara region. Thursday, the spokesperson for this region indicated on Twitter: "
Whereas an operation to free our people in difficulty because of the TPLF terrorists can be carried out at any time, on all fronts, we must be vigilant. 24 hours a day
”.
At the same time, the inhabitants of six administrative zones of the region of Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of the South (SNNP, south) overwhelmingly approved, during a referendum in September, their separation from it and their regrouping within a new region "
of the Southwest
", according to the results announced Saturday by the radio and television Fana BC, affiliated to the State.
"
Ethnic federalism
"
The Upper House of Parliament must now ratify the creation of this eleventh region of the country, which is governed according to a system of “
ethnic federalism
” within which the regions, divided on ethnic bases, are endowed with a large degree of autonomy.
The reforms launched when he came to power in 2018 by Abiy Ahmed, appointed prime minister after large waves of demonstrations against the federal power, revived regional tensions and in particular the autonomist ambitions in the SNNP, a mosaic of ethnic groups.
The Ethiopian Constitution allows any ethnic group to call for a referendum to form a new region, but the federal government has long restrained any inclination, sometimes violently.