Ethiopia’s Tigray region hit by power failure

The conflict-torn Tigray region of northern Ethiopia was hit by a power cut, the government said on Wednesday, blaming the outage on the ousted ruling party in the semi-autonomous area.

Tigray has been the scene of fighting since early November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced military operations against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), accusing them of attacking federal army camps.

He declared victory after pro-government troops captured the regional capital Mekele at the end of November, though the TPLF vowed to continue fighting, and clashes persisted in the region, hampering efforts to provide essential humanitarian aid.

In a press release, the public utility company Ethiopia Electricity Power (EEP) said “remnants” of TPLF attacked a high-voltage line carrying electricity to Mekele, “causing a blackout. total in the region “.

The statement did not mention the date of the alleged attack, but a resident of Mekele told AFP that the electricity was cut Tuesday evening.

The resident said fear was growing in the capital of a TPLF offensive, with security forces digging trenches on the outskirts of the city.

He said tension was high, with red and yellow flags associated with the TPLF and red and yellow balloons popping up in the city in recent days.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda gave an interview to an American television station on Tuesday, denying that it foresees an imminent offensive.

“Right now we are in no rush to liberate our cities. The cities are ours. We will do everything possible so that our cities are not centers of destruction,” Getachew told Tigrai Media House (TMH).

Separately, on Wednesday, the Tigray Council of Religious Institutions – representing the Ethiopian Orthodox, Catholic, Islamic and Evangelical churches – released a statement calling for the withdrawal of forces from Eritrea and neighboring Amhara regional state from the region. .

Eritrea and Ethiopia deny that Eritrean soldiers are involved in the conflict in Tigray.

But their presence has been described by residents, aid workers and even some civilian and military officials in Tigray.

“The Ethiopian federal government should force the Eritrean and Amhara region security forces out of the Tigray region. Both forces have committed rapes, looting, killings and destroying infrastructure and religious sites, “the statement said.

He also condemned the partial destruction of the al-Nejashi Mosque, one of the oldest mosques on the continent, and referred to the alleged damage to Debre-Damo, one of the famous clifftop monasteries in the region, which dates back to the sixth century.

Tigray has been cut off from the Internet since the conflict began.

United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said last week that “much of the rural areas, where 80 percent of the population lived before the conflict, remain cut off from humanitarian aid.”