ADDIS ABABA, Nov 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Tigray People’s Liberation Front on Friday accused the government in Addis Ababa of launching drone strikes against the region in northern Ethiopia, in breach of a peace deal.
In a statement, the group, whose forces waged a bloody war against the Ethiopian federal army between November 2020 and November 2022, said the strikes “caused casualties among members of the Tigray forces and local residents”.
The TPLF statement said the strikes were a “blatant violation” of the peace accord that ended two years of devastating fighting between the two sides, in which an estimated 600,000 people died.
Relations between the region, which is home to around six million people, and the capital and other regions remain tense, with fears of renewed internal conflict in the fractured nation.
On Thursday, the authorities in the northern Afar region, which borders Tigray, claimed that TPLF fighters entered its territory and seized six villages, bombarding civilians with mortars and heavy artillery.
The interim authorities in Tigray called the accusations “baseless” and claimed armed forces in Afar had carried out “repeated attacks” in recent years.
The TPLF said in its latest statement that the Ethiopian government’s alleged attack on Friday night put the fragile peace accord “in grave danger”, accusing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of obstruction and military provocation.
It and the attacks in Afar, where the government was recruiting and arming “bandits”, were part of a coordinated campaign to destabilise the region, it said.
There was no immediate comment from the government when contacted.
The TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2018 until it was sidelined by Ahmed’s rise to power, urged international pressure to resume peaceful dialogue.
In May, Ethiopia’s Election Commission banned the TPLF from political activity and in October the government accused the party of forging ties with neighbouring Eritrea and “actively preparing to wage war against Ethiopia”. — NNN-AGENCIES
