The Tigray War: When a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Launches a Brutal Offensive Against Civilians in Ethiopia

Why the remote Tigray region, in the far north of Ethiopia has become a headline in all the world’s media? Three weeks ago, War It has exploded in this impoverished corner of the planet, and this Wednesday Ethiopian Prime Minister, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, Abiy Ahmed promises to launch a military offensive that will not contemplate any “mercy” towards civilians, if they do not walk away in time.

International calls for Ahmed to renounce his offensive have fallen on deaf ears. The Prime Minister called for the world not to interfere in the internal affairs of his country.

The epicenter of this war in Tigray is Humera.

Located in northwest Ethiopia, on the borders of Sudan and Eritrea, Humera was one of the first targets of the military offensive launched on November 4 by Ahmed against Tigray and its leaders.

Abiy, the youngest African leader, accuses the Tigray forces, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), of starting the war by attacking two army bases federal government, which the TPLF denies.

Conflict came suddenly to Humera with huge artillery fire.

The government declared her freed from the rebels without detailing the destruction and ruins that line the streets. Electricity cut off. The horror of its inhabitants at the fall of the bombs. And the uncertainty about the future.

Two charred Federal Army tanks stand at the entrance to Humera, a dark town with low houses.

After intense fighting against the forces of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF), the party leading the region and defied the federal government for months, the city was declared “liberated” on November 12.

Humera, home to some 30,000 people, bears the scars of the fighting: a huge hole appears in the facade of the Hotel Africa, and the surrounding houses are riddled with bullets.

“We did not expect these attacks,” said Getachew Berhane, a 42-year-old resident. “Suddenly we started to hear the weapons of war, the explosions, and then we panicked.”

“I couldn’t leave my house, I was terrified,” he says.

Some of Humera’s inhabitants are among the first Ethiopians to take refuge in neighboring Sudan, where there are currently around 36,000. And people continue to flee, faced with the ultimatum which expires on Wednesday and the threat of violent reprisals.

A resident claims to know at least ten people who have died in his neighborhood, but AFP, which has toured the area, has not been allowed to go to the hospital to try to balance the fighting.

Now the fighting has shifted to the this mountainous which houses the regional capital Mekele, the final target of the offensive, from which the federal government wants to expel the TPLF and replace it with “legitimate institutions”.

On Sunday, Abiy gave TPLF leaders 72 hours to go, under the threat of a ruthless attack on this city of half a million inhabitants.

Meanwhile, in Humera, federal authorities have established the establishment of “legitimate institutions,” with the arrival of officials and officials from the neighboring region of Amhara. This is a dangerous decision, as there are already old tensions between the Amhara and Tigray communities.

Daniel Wubet, director of Amhara, with his Kalashnikov on his shoulder, explains being in Humera to supervise “peacekeeping” and “educate” on the misdeeds of the TPLF.

In recent years, there have been territorial conflicts, which at times degenerated into violence, between the communities of Tigray (6% of the population) and Amhara (20%).

Since 1991, after overthrowing a Marxist regime in Addis Ababa, the TPLF has taken control of power in Ethiopia for over 25 years, until he was gradually marginalized by Abiy, when he became Prime Minister in 2018.

In Humera, the flags of the TPLF have now been replaced by that of the green-yellow-red Ethiopian imperial period, adopted by the Amhara nationalists.

In a message to AFP, Tigray President Debretsion Gebremichael believes the presence of Amhara administrators and fighters is “one of the evil plans to weaken Tigray”.

“But we will continue to fight, until they leave,” he warns.

AFP

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