Status: 10/18/2022 4:55 p.m
Government troops and rebels have been fighting each other in Ethiopia for two years. Now the Ethiopian army has captured an important city in the Tigray region. The UN warned of an escalation of the conflict.
In Ethiopia, government forces have scored an important victory in nearly two years of fighting against the rebels of the People’s Liberation Front in the Tigray region in the north of the country. Both sides confirmed that the army has taken Shire, one of the largest cities in Tigray. The army says it has also captured two other cities in northern Tigray. The Ethiopian government announced that it would take control of all airports and government buildings in the region.
The national security adviser to the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa, Redwan Hussien, said they are now waiting for the African Union (AU) to announce a date for peace talks. The rebels had already agreed in September to negotiate with the AU mediation. At the time, however, the government had not responded to the offer to talk.
In November 2020, a war broke out in Tigray, which also spread to neighboring regions. A ceasefire was agreed last March, fueling hopes for peace talks. In August, after five months of relative calm, fighting broke out again between the rebels and government troops. Neighboring Eritrea is also involved in the fighting, fighting the rebels who were the dominant force in the state until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was elected prime minister in 2018.
Millions of people are starving
Fighting in Africa’s second most populous nation has displaced millions and killed thousands of civilians. Millions of people do not have enough to eat, and according to UN estimates, hundreds of thousands are fleeing. All parties to the conflict are accused of serious human rights violations.
The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned the government against war crimes. Air strikes and artillery strikes in the Tigray region could exacerbate the plight of civilians. Deliberate attacks on civilians or civilian objects are war crimes under international law.
The central government in Addis Ababa had defended further attacks to take control of the airport in the region, despite the announcement of peace talks on Monday.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also called for an immediate end to the violence and a resumption of talks between the conflicting parties. The violence and destruction in the East African country are alarming, Guterres said on Twitter. The United Nations is ready to support the AU in every way to end the nightmare for the people.