Civil war in Ethiopia: Tigray rebels report major offensive from Eritrea

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Wrecked car on a street in Tigray

Photo: Ben Curtis/AP

The rebels in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray accuse Eritrea of ​​having launched a major offensive.

There had been heavy fighting between government troops and rebels along the entire front, spokesman Getachew Reda said on Twitter.

Eritrea uses its entire army and reservists.

Accordingly, Ethiopian troops and special forces from the southern Amhara region also took part in the offensive.

The Reuters news agency reported last week that Eritrea was mobilizing its troops.

Reservists should also report to barracks.

So far there has been no official confirmation of Eritrea's major offensive.

However, an eyewitness in Adigrat, a town not far from the Eritrean border, confirmed to the German Press Agency that the region was being shelled.

Two aid workers also reported fierce fighting along the border, including shelling at a camp for displaced persons on the outskirts of the village of Ziban Gedena, according to Reuters.

Whether Eritrean troops were actually involved remained open.

US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer said the United States was aware of and condemned Eritrean troops crossing the border.

War has been raging in northern Ethiopia since November 2020.

After a conflict over the balance of power between federal and provincial governments escalated, Abiy Ahmed invaded Tigray with his army, along with troops from neighboring Amhara and Eritrea.

After a five-month ceasefire, clashes have broken out again since the end of August between the Ethiopian military and the People's Liberation Front in Tigray TPLF, which is demanding more autonomy for its ethnic group.

UN accusation: serious human rights violations

According to the United Nations, thousands of people have been killed and more than two million others have been displaced since the fighting began.

The UN accuses all parties to the conflict of serious human rights violations.

The war over Tigray is already "the worst catastrophe in the world," said the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who himself comes from the region.

The situation there is more terrible than any other humanitarian crisis in the world.

dam/dpa/Reuters