San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
State forces seize control of capital in restive region
NAIROBI, Kenya — Ethiopia’s military has gained full control of the capital of the defiant Tigray region, the army announced Saturday after Tigray TV reported that the city of a halfmillion people was being “heavily bombarded” in the final push to arrest the region’s leaders.
The army chief of staff, Gen. Birhanu Jula, made the announcement on an Ethiopian state broadcast. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in a separate statement, “We have entered Mekele without innocent civilians being targets.”
Neither mentioned the arrest of any of the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which runs the region.
With communications cut to the region of 6 million people, it is difficult to verify claims by the warring sides. Each government regards the other as illegal.
Humanitarian workers confirmed that shelling began earlier Saturday in Mekele, a densely populated city, which immediately raised concerns about civilian casualties.
Ethiopia’s government had warned Mekele residents there would be “no mercy” if they didn’t move away from the TPLF leaders in time. The United Nations said some residents fled as tanks closed in and Abiy’s 72hour ultimatum for TPLF leaders to surrender expired.
“The United States is gravely concerned about the worsening situation in the Tigray region,” the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Kelly Craft, tweeted after the bombardment began. She called for dialogue, the protection of civilians and access for aid.
The TPLF once dominated the country’s ruling coalition but was sidelined under new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Abiy is now rejecting dialogue with the TPLF, most recently in his meeting on Friday with African Union envoys.
The Tigray region has been almost entirely cut off from the outside world since Nov. 4, when Abiy announced a military offensive in response to a
TPLF attack on a military base. Humanitarians have said at least hundreds of people have been killed.
The fighting threatens to destabilize Ethiopia, which has been described as the linchpin of the strategic Horn of Africa.
With transport links cut, food and other supplies are running out in Tigray, and the United Nations has asked for immediate access for aid.
Nearly 1 million people have been displaced in the region, the U.N. said Saturday. More than 43,000 refugees have fled for Sudan, where people struggle to give them food, shelter and care. The International Committee of the Red Cross says hospitals in Tigray are running out of drugs.