Will take fight to Eritrea, Tigrayans say
NAIROBI, Kenya — A day after retaking the capital of the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia, rebel forces have indicated they have little appetite for a truce — threatening to drag out the eight-month-long civil war that has embroiled the Horn of Africa nation.
A senior member with the regional government of Tigray, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Tigrayan leadership had decided to “weaken or destroy” the capabilities of both the Eritrean and Ethiopian armies “wherever they are,” including pursuing the possibility of following them into neighboring Eritrea.
His comments Tuesday afternoon echoed earlier ones from Getachew Reda, the regional government spokesman, who told Reuters: “Our primary focus is to degrade enemy fighting capabilities,” adding, “so if going to Amhara is what it takes, we will do it, if going to Eritrea is what it takes, we’ll do it.”
The officials were speaking a day after the rebel forces, known as Tigray Defense Forces, retook the regional capital, Mekelle, in a stunning turnabout. Ethiopian troops had retreated from Mekelle a day earlier after a string of losses to the rebels south and west of Mekelle, and Tigrayan forces began entering the city.
The Ethiopian military has occupied Tigray since November, having invaded in cooperation with Eritrean and militia forces to wrest control from the regional government. The Tigrayan forces, known as the Tigray Defense Forces, spent months regrouping and recruiting new fighters, and then in the past week began a rolling counterattack back toward Mekelle.
For residents, the rebels’ arrival had raised hopes for an end to a conflict that has brought months of misery, isolation and atrocities against civilians, including sexual violence. When the Tigrayan fighters came to the city, residents fled from their homes, chanting and cheering, as the fighters walked through the streets.
But it was a major blow to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, who in November launched an offensive into the region that he promised would be over in the span of weeks.
From the onset of the war, Tigrayans reported the involvement of Eritreans in the fighting after their towns were shelled from the direction of their northern neighbor. In the months since, Eritrean troops’ presence within Tigray has become widely known, and it became clear that Abiy had sought help from President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea in ousting the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, from power.
Since then, Eritrean troops have been accused of atrocities, including killings and sexual assault, and remained in the region even after Abiy said the soldiers had agreed to go home.
Abiy has also turned to ethnic Amhara militias for help, and they have been accused of ethnic cleansing and trying to seize what they consider lost territories for their group. Tigrayan militias have also been accused of committing atrocities against ethnic Amharas in the early days of the war.
But even as the Tigray regional government pushes on with the fight, it faces a daunting task on its own turf. The region is facing a long list of crises including huge numbers of people displaced, lack of water and education, and a famine in which millions face hunger and thousands of farmers lack seeds for cultivation during this planting season.