Tigray

Ethiopia: TDF accuses UN of lying as conflict in Tigray escalates NAIROBI, Kenya - The Tigray Defense Forces accused a UN body of misleading the public about alleged deaths in Galicoma in the Afar region, where the separatist group has been accused of opening fire, killing children and innocent women . Henrietta Fore, the Executive Director of UNICEF, released a statement last week accusing TDF…

Paris has suspended an agreement on military cooperation between France and Ethiopia, sources said on Friday in the middle of the ongoing conflict in the north of the African country. The agreement between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Emmanuel Macron in March 2019 was terminated in early July. Macron and Abiy had signed an agreement in which France would borrow 85 million euros ($ 100 million) to support Ethiopia's ambition to build a navy. Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for…

Amnesty International says women and girls in Tigray were raped and sexually abused by Ethiopian soldiers and their allies in an attempt to inflict lasting physical and mental harm. In a new report, the rights group says that stories of gang rape, sexual slavery and sexual mutilation amount…

Ethiopian and Eritrean troops have raped hundreds of women and girls during the Tigray War and subjected some to sexual slavery and mutilation, Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday. Based on interviews with 63 survivors, the report sheds new light on a scourge already being investigated by Ethiopian law enforcement officials, with at least three soldiers convicted and 25 others charged. Some survivors said they had been raped while held captive for weeks on end. Others described being…

Ethiopia on Tuesday ended a ceasefire against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which had previously stopped the government's military offensive in the north of the country. The announcement to end the ceasefire declared by the government in the conflict with the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) came in a statement from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's office. Nearly 2 million Ethiopians have been displaced internally as a result of the conflict, while tens of thousands have fled to…

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on Tuesday that all eligible civilians would join the armed forces as fighting raged in several regions of Africa's second most populous nation. "Now is the time for all talented Ethiopians who are of age to join the armed forces, special forces and militias and show your patriotism," the Abiy office said in a statement released less than two months after declaring a unilateral ceasefire. against Tigray rebels. Northern Ethiopia has been devastated by…

Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its 13th-century cliffs in Ethiopia's Amhara region, was taken over by rebels from the nearby Tigray region, residents said on Thursday. The development came when a senior Amhara official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the rebels, known as the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), pushed "deep" into Amhara territory and hinted at possible reprisals. "I think now, enough is enough. Because TPLF is no longer in Tigray. TPLF is moving deep into…

The UN children's agency warned that more than 100,000 children in Ethiopia's struggling Tigray region could face the most extreme and life-threatening form of malnutrition next year, as humanitarian aid is still blocked from some 6 million people. The UN estimate, a tenfold increase over the usual cases in Tigray, is based on "mainly the scenario we see now, where the conflict is escalating and access to food is limited", says Marixie Mercado with UNICEF's emergency team to The Associated Press (AP).…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The United States has raised concerns over attacks on Eritrean refugees in Tigray, adding that "such aggression should end immediately." A number of Eritreans are living in Tigray after being displaced from their homes. A spokesperson for the Stage Department said Tuesday that Washington was extremely "concerned" about the attacks, calling them "unnecessary and backward" in a statement. "We are deeply concerned by credible reports of attacks by military forces affiliated with the Tigray Defense…

Food and water are flowing into two camps in Ethiopia's conflict-torn Tigray region, which houses about 24,000 Eritrean refugees, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday. Fighting between armed groups has escalated in and around the camps, Mai Aini and Adi Harush, and two refugees have been killed this month, it said, adding that they do not know who the groups are. "The last distribution of food to the two refugee camps took place in June, when the ration was only enough for 30 days," said Babar Baloch,…