Rebels and government troops accuse each other of being responsible for the resumption of hostilities on August 24 in northern Ethiopia, around the southeastern tip of Tigray, which ended a five-month truce and dashed the hopes of peace negotiations glimpsed since June, but never materialized.
“There is intense fighting not far away. I have heard the sound of heavy weapons since this morning” until the afternoon, reported Monday to AFP, on condition of anonymity, a inhabitant of Kobo who took refuge in Woldiya, about fifty km further south.
The army withdrew Saturday from Kobo, located about fifteen km south of the Tigray border, to “avoid massive casualties” among civilians, while the city was attacked “from several directions” by the rebels Tigrayans, according to the federal government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
Monday, now, “many displaced people arrive from the areas of Gobye and Robit”, halfway between Kobo and Woldiya and “the atmosphere in Woldiya is filled with uncertainty”, added this displaced person.
– “Intense fighting” –
A diplomatic source for his part reported clashes in a similar area located between the two localities, while a humanitarian source indicated that “intense fighting” was taking place in the mountains of Zobel, located to the south-east. from Kobo.
Journalists do not have access to northern Ethiopia, making independent verification impossible. The mobile and internet network is also uncertain there and the situation on the ground is difficult to assess.
The municipal authorities of Woldiya, 500 km north of the capital Addis Ababa, have imposed a curfew prohibiting all travel between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time and vehicle traffic from 6 p.m.
In Woldiya, the displaced person from Kobo also saw ambulances passing by carrying wounded soldiers, but also members of the Amhara regional forces and the Amhara Fano militias, both of which have been supporting the federal army against the Tigrayan rebels since the beginning of the conflict there. almost two years.
He estimates that several thousand people fleeing the fighting have found refuge in Woldiya. Some are housed at the university, but “many displaced people can be seen sleeping” across the city of around 100,000 inhabitants.
Tigist, a 30-year-old mother of three fled Kobo on Friday and did not arrive in Woldiya until Sunday. She had to cross a river whose bridge was destroyed, helped by residents using small rafts to transport women and children, she told AFP on Monday.
– “Terrified” –
“I’m very lucky, I saw people drown trying to cross the river,” she says. “In Woldiya, the displaced receive no help” from the authorities, so “people help each other for food, water or shelter”.
According to her, everyone is “terrified” and thinks of leaving for Dessie, a town of importance 100 km to the south. “I don’t know if I’ll ever see Kobo again,” she says.
As soon as the fighting resumed, many countries and international organizations, led by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union, called for a cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“Human rights (…) and the protection of civilians must be the priority of all parties”, in turn reacted Monday the commission set up by the UN to investigate the abuses committed by each side since the beginning in November 2020 of the war in northern Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), a public institution, also reminded on Monday “all parties of their obligations to respect the life, safety, moral and physical integrity and dignity of civilians affected by the dispute”.
This broke out when Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to Tigray to dislodge the authorities of the region, who had been dissenting for months, accusing them of having attacked military bases there.
After initially retreating, the rebels recaptured most of Tigray in a counter-offensive in mid-2021.
The toll of this deadly war is largely unknown. But it has displaced more than two million people and plunged hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians into near-famine conditions, according to the UN.
