| Mekelle kindergarten airstrike | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Tigray War | |
 | |
| Location | RES Kids Paradise kindergarten, Mekelle, Tigray, Ethiopia |
| Date | August 26, 2022 12:40pm (EAT) |
| Deaths | 7 killed [1] |
| Injured | 14 injured [2] |
| Perpetrator |  Ethiopia (per TPLF and UNICEF) |
On August 26, 2022, an airstrike allegedly from the Ethiopian National Defense Force hit a kindergarten in Tigrayan capital of Mekelle, killing seven people including two children.
In 2020, following years of heightened tensions between the democratic Ethiopian government, led by Abiy Ahmed, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the dominant party in the Tigray Region which had previously led a dictatorship in Ethiopia, clashes broke out between the TPLF and Ethiopia, beginning the Tigray War. An initial Ethiopian government offensive captured Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital, and saw the war escalate into a low-level insurgency. [3] In 2021, a Tigrayan offensive reached the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital, but ultimately was pushed back. [4] A ceasefire was initiated in March 2022, but by August, the peace talks began to break down. [5] Just days before the airstrike, fighting erupted again, with both sides accusing each other of initiating. [6]
Following the resurgence of fighting, Ethiopian forces bombarded the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle on August 26. [7] The airstrikes were some of the first on the capital since March. [7] In the attack, a kindergarten was hit and destroyed, along with the nearby civilian compound. [8] According to aid workers on the scene, the strike took place at RES Kids Paradise at around 12:40pm local time, a local kindergarten, and three loud booms rang out. [8] [9]
Initially, four children were killed and two were injured. [7] The death toll later rose to seven killed and fourteen injured, including children. [1] Following the airstrikes and renewed clashes, humanitarian aid in Tigray region was suspended. [1]
The Ethiopian government claimed that they had only hit places that they alleged the TPLF was manufacturing or storing arms. [10] The head of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, issued a message condemning the airstrike and called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities." [9]
Mekelle, or Mekele, is a special zone and capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta awraja in Tigray. It is located around 780 kilometres (480 mi) north of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, with an elevation of 2,254 metres (7,395 ft) above sea level. Administratively, Mekelle is considered a Special Zone, which is divided into seven sub-cities. It is the economic, cultural, and political hub of northern Ethiopia.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front, also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government from May 2021 until its removal from the list in March 2023. In older texts and Amharic publications, it is known as Woyane or Wayane.
The Tigray War was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between forces allied to the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.
The Mekelle offensive was a military campaign fought between the armed forces of Ethiopia and the Tigray Region to reach the city of Mekelle in the Tigray Region, from 17 November to 28 November 2020. It was part of the Tigray War.
This timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.
Casualties of the Tigray War refers to the civilian and military deaths and injuries in the Tigray War that started in November 2020, in which rape and other sexual violence are also widespread. Precise casualty figures are uncertain. According to researchers at Ghent University in Belgium, as many as 600,000 people had died as a result of war-related violence and famine by late 2022. The scale of the death and destruction led The New York Times to describe it in November 2022 as "one of the world’s bloodiest contemporary conflicts."
All sides of the Tigray War have been repeatedly accused of committing war crimes since it began in November 2020. In particular, the Ethiopian federal government, the State of Eritrea, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Amhara regional forces have been the subject of numerous reports of both war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Beginning with the onset of the Tigray War in November 2020, acute food shortages leading to death and starvation became widespread in northern Ethiopia, and the Tigray, Afar and Amhara Regions in particular. As of August 2022, there are 13 million people facing acute food insecurity, and an estimated 150,000–200,000 had died of starvation by March 2022. In the Tigray Region alone, 89% of people are in need of food aid, with those facing severe hunger reaching up to 47%. In a report published in June 2021, over 350,000 people were already experiencing catastrophic famine conditions. It is the worst famine to happen in East Africa since 2011–2012.
On 28 November 2020, Mekelle was hit with an airstrike campaign during the Mekelle offensive of the Tigray War.
The Tigray Defense Forces, colloquially called the Tigray Army is a paramilitary group located in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It was founded by former generals of the Ethiopian Military in 2020 to combat federal forces enforcing national government mandates in the Tigray region, culminating in 2020 with the outbreak of the Tigray War. The TDF has made use of guerilla tactics and strategies. Human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have reported that the TDF has committed war crimes against civilians including gang rape and extrajudicial killing during their occupation of both the Afar and Amhara regions. According to the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice, TDF combatants have been found liable for upwards of 540 civilians casualties. as of 28 December 2021.
Following the 2018 dissolution of the ethnic federalist, dominant party political coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, there was an increase in tensions within the country, with newly resurgent regional and ethnically based factions carrying out armed attacks on military and civilians in multiple conflicts throughout Ethiopia.
Operation Alula Aba Nega, commonly shortened to Operation Alula, was a counter-offensive during the Tigray War by the Tigray Defense Forces against the Ethiopian military and its allies in Tigray. The operation was named after Ethiopian general Ras Alula Aba Nega, who was of Tigrayan descent. The offensive was launched on 11 June 2021 and recaptured vast swaths of territory across central and eastern Tigray, including the regional capital of Mekelle.
On 18 October 2021, the Ethiopian Air Force conducted two airstrikes on the city of Mekelle in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia during the Tigray War. 3 children were killed in the strikes.
The TDF–OLA joint offensive was a rebel offensive in the Tigray War and the OLA insurgency starting in late October 2021 launched by a joint rebel coalition of the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) and Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) against the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and government. The TDF and OLA took control of several towns south of the Amhara Region in the direction of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in late October and early November. Claims of war crimes included that of the TDF extrajudicially executing 100 youths in Kombolcha, according to deral authorities.
This Timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.
This Timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.
In the late hours of 7 January 2022, the Ethiopian Air Force (ETAF) carried out an airstrike on a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) set up in Dedebit Elementary School, located in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Between 56 and 59 people were killed in the attack, and at least 30 others were left injured.
On 26 November 2021, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and its allies had begun an offensive to recapture territory in the Amhara and Afar regions being occupied by the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF). Afar and Amhara militias had mobilized thousands of fighters and joined the new offensive. The ENDF and its allies were able to push TDF forces back from Debre Sina, Amhara to Alamata, Tigray (≈400 km). The Ethiopian government announced the campaign for national unity was a success and had been completed on 23 December 2021.
This is timeline of Mekelle, a city and capital of Tigray Region, Ethiopia.
The Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement, commonly called the Pretoria Agreement or the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA), is a peace treaty between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) that was signed 2 November 2022, wherein both parties agreed to a "permanent cessation of hostilities" to end the Tigray War. The agreement was made effective the next day on 3 November, marking the two-year anniversary of the war.
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