Status: 09/01/2022 02:45 a.m
For days there has been fighting again on the borders of the breakaway region of Tigray in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Air Force attacks hit regional capital Mekele. The brief hope of peace negotiations seems to have vanished.
It was late Wednesday night when the Medical Director of Mekele’s Ayder Referral Hospital, Kibrom Gebreselassie, tweeted: “The area around the hospital has been bombed. Victims are being admitted to Ayder Hospital.”
Already on Friday, Mekele, the political center in the resistance against the central government, was bombed by the Ethiopian air force. The government in Addis Ababa explained that only “military targets” were in its sights – the sparse pictures of the impact site showed the devastation of a kindergarten.
It is to be feared that Gebreselassie’s hospital will see even more victims of a renewed war, which has long since become a humanitarian drama for Tigray and the entire region.
A quarrel turns into fights
November 2020: In the dispute over regional elections and more political independence in Tigray, fighting ensues and the region is later occupied by central government troops. Militias allied with her from other parts of the country and from neighboring Eritrea to the north are also involved.
Later, the Tigrayer troops, the TDF, shake off the garrison and advance almost to the capital, Addis Ababa. In the end they retreat back to Tigray, also under pressure from the government troops. A ceasefire followed in March of this year, allowing the first aid deliveries for a long time.
The need grows even greater
It left untold dead and injured on both sides, as well as hundreds of thousands displaced or dependent on humanitarian aid. Before the ceasefire, 83 percent of Tigrayers were already dependent on food aid due to a food blockade by the central government, according to the UN.
Although deliveries were possible again in April, the number of people in need continued to grow to 89 percent, also due to a lack of fuel for food transport, according to the UN.
futile peace efforts
There were first contacts between the conflicting parties in Addis Ababa and Mekelle. However, peace negotiations failed over the question of which international mediator should be appointed or whether there should be conditions for the talks.
It is unclear who broke the ceasefire first: the news is sparse, on-site reporting by independent media – including that ARD – is usually prevented.
According to all that is known, TDF fighters broke through the lines of central government troops from the south of Tigray and made ground gains.
A new front
A new front appeared on Wednesday, pitting Tigrayans against government forces, in Ethiopia’s north-west, near the border with Sudan. In addition, reports had appeared days ago that massive numbers of new recruits were being drafted in the authoritarian government of Eritrea – this has not been confirmed.
However, there were rumors that Eritrea could once again intervene on the part of the central government and further internationalize the conflict.
The Ukrainian wheat that has now arrived in Djibouti was urgently awaited – especially in Tigray. Now it is uncertain whether he can reach the region.
Image: AFP
In the shadow of the Ukraine war
One thing is clear: in the shadow of the Ukraine war, the bloody conflict in northern Ethiopia continues to fade from the international public eye – and with it the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Tigray and the neighboring regions.
Largely cut off from transfers from abroad, fuel and telephone connections, the war is now reducing hopes that Tigray could at least get some of the grain deliveries that a ship coming from the Ukraine is unloading in nearby Djibouti. The suffering in northern Ethiopia is entering the next round – just like the war.