Heavy fighting, internet disruption as Ethiopia conflict rages
· Citizen
Ethiopian forces battled to repel assaults on multiple fronts by Tigrayan rebels on Friday, while a telecoms shutdown raised fears of a return to the devastating blockade imposed during the last Tigray war.
Rebels in the northern region seized local airports and launched attacks into the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara this week, saying they were once again in a “full-blown war” with the federal government.
Visit sweetbonanza-app.com for more information.
Tigrayans rushed to buy alternative sim cards as the main telecoms provider was cut off and online monitor Netblocks confirmed the internet was disrupted.
Many are terrified of a repeat of the blockade imposed on Tigray during the civil war in 2020-2022 — one of the deadliest conflicts of recent times with an estimated death toll of more than 600,000 — when electricity, communications and almost all aid was cut off.
A humanitarian source in Afar said there was “heavy fighting overnight”, including drone strikes, around the town of Abala in the mountains on the border between Afar and Tigray, as “federal forces pushed the rebels from entering the town”.
In Amhara, the army says it has killed more than 700 fighters of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) but has given no numbers for army or civilian casualties.
Heavy clashes were reported in North Wollo Zone of Amhara on Thursday, including around the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Lalibela, home to Ethiopia’s famed rock churches.
No brakes
The TPLF has forged an alliance with six other armed groups around the country in a bid to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
It appears to be repeating its strategy from the last war, analysts say — pushing south through Amhara towards the capital, Addis Ababa, while the offensive in Afar is likely aimed at cutting off supplies from Djibouti, which provides almost all of Ethiopia’s international trade cargo, including fuel.
“The alliance is likely trying to seize settlements alongside key infrastructure routes to undermine federal government’s ability to supply,” Edward Bach of consultancy firm Verisk Maplecroft told AFP.
The government has a significant military advantage, however, with a large arsenal of drones, an army numbering some 500,000, and the support of external actors, notably the United Arab Emirates.
Clionadh Raleigh, head of conflict monitor ACLED, said in a report Friday that it was not yet all-out war, but she could not see any “brakes in the system that prevent it from escalating further”.
The conflict could also draw in Eritrea on the side of the rebels, as it fears landlocked Ethiopia has been planning to invade and seize a direct access to the Red Sea.
“I don’t expect this to go back to a quiet, low-intensity conflict. There are too many interests involved now,” Raleigh said.
Washington only this month lifted sanctions on Ethiopia and Eritrea related to atrocities committed during the last civil war, saying the “national emergency… has expired”. The US embassy sided with Ethiopia’s government this week, saying it was “disappointed” with the TPLF offensive.
Panic buying
In Tigray, prices for basic goods have spiked as locals race to stock up on supplies.
“There is panic in the community,” Samuel Gebreslassie, 37, who works in a spice shop in the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, told AFP on Thursday.
“There is deep fear that banks, telecom networks, electricity and basic goods could be cut off again.”
The TPLF ruled the whole of Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018 before being sidelined with Abiy’s rise, eventually triggering a civil war marked by widespread war crimes and sexual violence.
The Pretoria Peace Agreement of 2022, brokered by African institutions and Washington, maintained an uneasy calm until last year but was never fully implemented, with around one million people still displaced.
Sporadic clashes then resumed, with the federal forces launching multiple drone strikes in Tigray in recent months and massing troops at the border.
Rights groups have accused the TPLF of a campaign of forced recruitment this year as it prepared for renewed conflict.