Mekelle - The African Mirror

Jul

2021

Young men mobilise against Tigray forces

MAGGIE FICK and DAWIT ENDESHAW RESIDENTS of Ethiopia's Amhara region said some young men were responding to a weekend call to arms by their president, as Amhara's government denied that forces from neighbouring Tigray had advanced further into the region. An eight-month-old war between Ethiopia's central government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray, has spread to neighbouring parts of northern Ethiopia, risking further destabilisation of Africa's second-most populous nation. On Sunday Agegnehu Teshager, president of the Amhara regional government had called on "all young people" to take up arms against TPLF fighters, who say…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia says aid flights to Tigray allowed, but none has yet left the capital

NEWS

ETHIOPIA has allowed humanitarian flights to its northern Tigray region, amid concerns that aid is not reaching people facing famine, but the civil aviation head said no such flights had yet left the capital. Ethiopia's government has been battling the Tigray People's Liberation Front since November and thousands of civilians and an unknown number of combatants have since been killed. Last week, government forces said they had withdrawn from the Tigray capital of Mekelle, but the TPLF said its forces seized the city, a major shift in the conflict. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government declared a unilateral humanitarian ceasefire and…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Tigray as no longer ‘centre’ of conflict

NEWS

DAWIT ENDESHAW ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed acknowledged government troops had left Tigray's regional capital Mekelle after months of fighting, saying it was because the city was no longer the "centre of gravity for conflicts". Another government figure said the troops could return in weeks if needed - the first statements by federal officials since Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) forces took the city this week in a major turn of events in the conflict. But a spokesman for the TPLF called Abiy's comments a "lie", saying that government troops lost and were forced to leave Mekelle. He also said…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Cheers as Tigray forces seize regional capital

NEWS

GIULIA PARAVICINI and MAGGIE FICK TIGRAYAN forces said they had Ethiopian government troops on the run around the regional capital Mekelle after taking full control of the city in a sharp reversal of eight months of conflict. People in Mekelle, where communications were cut on Monday, said the incoming Tigrayan fighters were greeted with cheers. There were similar scenes on video footage from the northern town of Shire, where residents said government-allied Eritrean forces had pulled out and Tigrayan forces had entered. "We are 100% in control of Mekelle," Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), told…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Tigray’s former rulers back in power

NEWS

GIULIA PARAVICINI, KATHERINE HOURELD and DAWIT ENDESHAW THE former rulers of Ethiopia's Tigray region has announced they were back in control of the regional capital Mekelle after nearly eight months of fighting, and the government which ousted them declared a unilateral ceasefire with immediate effect. Residents in downtown Mekelle reported seeing rebel troops in the city for the first time since they were driven out by government forces in November, and several described scenes of jubilation in the streets. The developments marked a dramatic turn in a conflict that has killed thousands of people, displaced more than 2 million and…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Air strike kills 43 in Ethiopia’s Tigray

NEWS

KATHARINE HOURELD AN air strike killed at least 43 people in the town of Togoga in Ethiopia's Tigray region today, a medical official told Reuters, after residents said new fighting had flared in recent days north of the regional capital Mekelle. Ethiopian military spokesman Colonel Getnet Adane did not confirm or deny the incident. He said air strikes were a common military tactic and that government forces do not target civilians. The bomb hit a market at around 1:00 p.m., according to a woman who said her husband and two-year-old daughter had been injured. "We didn't see the plane, but…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Ethiopian women raped in Mekelle, says soldier

NEWS

SOLDIERS and police in the northern Ethiopian city of Mekelle have expressed concerns about insecurity, with one saying women were raped this week, after the city fell to federal forces during a war late last year. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government declared victory in its conflict with the Tigray region's former ruling party after seizing Mekelle, the local capital and home to half a million people, on November 28 Though the government says it is restoring law and order, aid agencies, residents and the United Nations are concerned at ongoing instability and shortages. At Friday's meeting in Mekelle broadcast on…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Banks re-open in Ethiopia’s Mekelle for first time since war began

BUSINESS

BANKING services have resumed in the capital of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region for the first time since conflict broke out there on November 4, state-run Fana TV has reported, as the government seeks to restore normality a month after capturing the city. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government declared victory after seizing Mekelle from the rebellious northern Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on November 28. By mid-December, it was sending civil servants back to work and re-opening air space, while some power and telecoms links were restored after a near-total communications blackout. Fana cited an interview in the state-run Ethiopia Press…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia’s war-scarred Tigray region regains some services

NEWS

ETHIOPIA has sent civil servants in Tigray back to work and ordered gun owners to disarm as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government sought to show normality in the still-isolated northern region after weeks of war. Some power and telephone links were also restored in regional capital Mekelle after a virtual communications blackout since federal troops' November 4 offensive. But there were reports of massive fuel and food price hikes, plus water shortages. Tigray is still off-limits to journalists without a permit. Abiy has declared victory over the former local ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). The powerful TPLF…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Did Ethiopia’s attack on Tigray violate international laws?

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IN Ethiopia, the national army claims to have taken “complete control” of Mekelle, the capital of the dissident region of Tigray. But since the fighting started in November, there have been concerns for civilians in the region who may have been injured or displaced due to the conflict. EUGÈNE BAKAMA BOPE, Professor, Université de Lubumbashi What is known is that providers of humanitarian aid haven’t been able to reach civilians. There are also reports that hundreds of civilians have been killed. However, because parts of the region have been cut off from mobile phone and internet network, it’s hard to…