The Ethiopian army has started a manhunt for the northern rebel leaders, topped by Debretsion Gebremichael, the leader of the Tigreans. “All criminals who will be brought to justice,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
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The battle continues. The army is said to have taken the city of Mekele, the capital of the rebellious Tigray region in the north of the country. According to Abiy, government forces have “complete control” of the city. But that in no way means the end of the battle.
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Northern Ethiopia has been a powder keg since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a major offensive against the rebellious Tigreans on November 4. They ruled the country of 115 million inhabitants for thirty years. In 2018, the Tigreans were sidetracked by the new Prime Minister Abiy, but after that they did not wish to submit to the central authority in Addis Ababa. A series of incidents this month led to the offensive by Nobel laureate Abiy in which war crimes were allegedly committed on both sides.
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While there are no independent sources to confirm this, the capture of Mekele would not have resulted in further war crimes. Prime Minister Abiy had previously warned residents to distance themselves from the TPLF, otherwise “no mercy” would be shown. There have been no reports of retaliation. But verification remains very difficult, as the region has been virtually cut off from the outside world, including telephone lines and the Internet, since the start of the conflict. Regional TV is also off the air. Hundreds of people are said to have died, many tens of thousands have fled.
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Guerrillaoorlog
Sporadically firefights are still reported from Mekele. Part of the 500,000 inhabitants would have fled the city to neighboring Sudan before. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the heavily armed militia of the tribe of Tigreans (6 percent of the Ethiopian population) is said to have fled to the mountains and prepare for a protracted guerrilla war. The TPLF can mobilize about 250,000 men, some of them well-trained soldiers with heavy equipment some of which was recently stolen from an arsenal of the Ethiopian army. “We fight to the end,” said a TPLF statement to Reuters news agency. The militia has years of war experience in the mountainous region along the border with Sudan and Eritrea. It was from here that the communist Ethiopian dictator and war criminal Mengistu was expelled in 1991. At the time, the TPLF received support from Eritrea, but now they are deadly enemies.
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Missiles
This weekend, the Eritrean capital Asmara was again bombarded with at least six missiles from the Tigray region. Asmara airport and military installations would have been targeted. The TPLF is an old enemy of Eritrea and accuses the regime of helping the Ethiopian soldiers subjugate the Tygrean territory. Eritrea and the TPLF are bitter enemies. The Eritrean Front ruled Ethiopia as a political party for 27 years and was involved in a bloody war with Eritrea in the years 1998-2000. Eritrea claims territory that the Tigreans do not want to give up. Prime Minister Abiy has promised to hand those areas over to Eritrea.
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The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea was officially ended in 2018 by Abiy Ahmed shortly after he took power. The following year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for it. The TPLF lost power in the capital Addis Ababa, but remained strong in the northern region. If the conflict turns into a protracted war, it could destabilize the entire region of the Horn of Africa, with disastrous consequences for millions, human rights groups warn.
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