18 Aug 22
Lenin Ndebele
Units of Ethiopian army patrol the streets of Mekelle city of the Tigray region, in northern Ethiopia.
Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Ima
- Ethiopian government forces have been accused of shelling Tigray’s army base for an hour.
- The Ethiopian peace committee says there is a need to conclude a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible.
- The 21-month long conflict is costing the country R330 million per month in export revenue after industries in Tigray were shut down.
There is a fresh threat to the six-month-old provisional peace in the Tigray region, and Tigray’s transitional government blames this on the Ethiopian government.
On 15 August, the Ethiopian National Defence Force bombarded a Tigray army base near Dedebit in the North Western zone.
According to the Tigray Army’s Military Command, the Ethiopian government “will solely be responsible for the eruption of a second round of war that will lead to the total destruction of the country”.
The unprovoked attack comes at a time when the Ethiopian government released a proposed peace plan.
In a statement, released on Tuesday, the Ethiopian peace committee said, “there is a need to conclude a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible”.
Part of the peace plan to end the two-year war entails guaranteeing regular and sustained humanitarian aid reaching Tigray and restoration of basic services such as telecommunications, trade, and economics.
But it is the shelling of the army base that has angered Tigray’s transitional government.
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WHO chief: Tigray crisis ignored due to ‘color of skin’
The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus suggested on Wednesday (August 17) that racism is behind a lack of attention paid to the plight of civilians in Ethiopia’s war-shattered Tigray region.
Since it is willing to find a lasting solution, it said it chose not to return fire but to investigate the matter.
“Tigray’s military command, having ensured no return of fire from our side and after patiently investigating whether the violation of the cessation of hostilities was a result of the local commander or an international act sanctioned at the highest level of government, has ascertained that it was a deliberate act authorised at the highest level,” the Tigray Army’s military command said in a statement.
But the Ethiopian prime minister’s spokesperson, Billene Seyoum Woldeyes, in a briefing with international media on Thursday, dismissed the allegations.
“If TPLF generally cares for the wellbeing of Ethiopians in the Tigray region, then they should publicly be asked by various international community actors to accept the peace agenda and sit for talks instead of looking for excuses to avoid these peace talks,” she said.
A senior political analyst at NKC African Economics, Louw Nel who was quoted by various media outlets, estimated the war in Tigray had cost Ethiopia about R42 billion.
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Ethiopia’s Afar region pleads for aid as food trucks head to Tigray
In tonight’s edition: Displaced people in Ethiopia’s Afar region plead for food assistance as aid heads to embattled Tigray. Also, as investment in startups worldwide stagnates or drops off, African innovation continues to excite. Funding for African startups has doubled in the first half of this year. Finally, Togolese soprano Clémentine Ayéfouni mixes Western classical opera and traditional African rhythms in unique performances…
Ethiopia was losing about R330 million per month in export revenue after the industrial facilities in the Tigray region were shut down, according to data from the Ethiopian Ministry of Trade and Industry.More than 61 000 people have left for Sudan, while more than one million people have been forced to flee their homes. In Tigray, about 100 000 Eritrean refugees have fled their country and are now trapped in the crossfire.
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