Ethiopia: Fighting flares in Tigray

SANAA, Dec. 6 (YPA) – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that the conflict is coming to an end in Tigray, a week after the army took control of the provincial capital, Reuters reported.

Fighting for nearly a month between federal forces led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (SPLM) has so far claimed thousands of lives and some 46,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Sudan.

A rebel faction in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray province said explosions, looting and skirmishes continued in parts of the region on Saturday after government forces announced they were days away from capturing rebel leaders.

The leader of the People’s Liberation Front for the Liberation of Tigray,   Debretsion Gebremichael told Reuters on Saturday that fighting was still raging outside the city.

He noted that federal forces shelled the town of Abu Adi on Friday, without giving further details, while a spokesman accused government troops of looting in Mekelle.

They are looting civilian properties, hotels and damaging factories after looting,” the spokesman Getachew Reda told a TPLF-owned TV station.

The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Most communications in Tigray are down and access to the area is severely restricted, making it hard to verify either side’s statements.

Abiy used to be a political partner of the TPLF – which dominated Ethiopia’s governing coalition for nearly three decades – but he irked his former allies by putting Tigrayan officials on trial for corruption and rights abuses.

They said the arrests were politically motivated, accusing Abiy of trying to tighten his grip over Ethiopia’s 10 semi-autonomous federal states. Abiy denies that, and has called the TPLF leaders criminals who mutinied against federal authority.

E.M