Mekelle offensive | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Tigray War | |||||||
Map of the Mekelle offensive | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Tigray | Ethiopia Eritrea | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Debretsion Gebremichael (Chief Administrator of Tigray Region and TPLF Chairman) Getachew Reda (TPLF Spokesperson) [4] | Abiy Ahmed (Prime Minister of Ethiopia) Birhanu Jula (ENDF Chief of Staff) Kenea Yadeta (Minister of Defence) Isaias Afewerki (President of Eritrea) Filipos Woldeyohannes (EDF Chief of Staff) | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Tigray Defence Forces | ENDF EDF | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
27 civilians killed, 100+ wounded (Mekelle anonymous doctors) [6] |
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.
Mekelle was hit by an airstrike, killing two civilians and injuring several others. The strike also caused damage to roads, bridges and houses. Who carried out the airstrike has been disputed, as the Ethiopian government has denied targeting civilians. [7] [8] [9]
Mortar fire and tank shells also fired upon civilian areas in the town of Shire; hotels, schools, a university campus, an apartment building and the town's own municipal building were hit by the strikes. A number of residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch either stated that Tigayan forces had either left before it occurred, or at the very least, "did not see militia forces present." Both Ethiopian and Eritrean forces were noted as entering Shire later that day. [10]
The Ethiopian government accused the TPLF of blowing up four main bridges leading to Mekelle, which the TPLF denied. [11] By the end of the first day, at least 10 civilians were killed. [10]
Ethiopian forces captured Shire and Axum in the morning. Around 9 a.m., Ethiopian forces were advancing towards Mekelle by three roads from South, East and Northwest around 200 kilometers away from the city. The Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Defense Force, Berhanu Jula, announced an intention to encircle Mekelle in order to capture TPLF forces. [7] [12] [13] Fighting between Tigray and Eritrea reportedly took place in Adi Quala, Zalembesa, Taruna, Ali Tina, Wadqomdi, and Badme. [14]
TPLF leader Debretsion said that Mekelle was bombed but gave no details of casualties or injuries. [15] Redwan Hussein, a government spokesperson, said that government troops are closing in on Mekelle and had won multiple victories, capturing a number of towns on their campaign towards the Tigray capital. [16]
Mekelle was hit by an airstrike which inflicted significant damage on Mekelle University, injuring several civilians. [17] [18] By this point, government-allied forces captured Adwa, while making advances toward Adigrat. [19]
Military spokesperson of Ethiopia, Colonel Dejene Tsegaye, announced that Mekelle will be encircled and shelled, telling Tigray civilians to flee the city because Ethiopian forces would show no mercy. [20] TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said that his troops have stalled the Ethiopian forces on southern front. [21]
Ethiopian forces begun their direct assault on Mekelle on 28 November. Debretsion claimed that they were bombarding the city with artillery, an accusation rejected by Ethiopian government. [22] Despite this, however, ambulances rushed through the streets picking up dead and wounded after Ethiopian government artillery strikes. [6] Doctors in Mekelle sent text messages on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals from the government by using a rare Internet connection in the city. They stated that indiscriminate artillery shelling targeted not only TPLF areas, but also civilian neighborhoods, ended up killing 27 civilians (including a 4-year-old child) and wounded around 100. [10] The hospital staff showed documents to prove their employment and denied any ties to the TPLF, while providing certain pictures of their patients (including infants) having many shrapnel wounds. [6]
The Ethiopian government later that day announced it had taken Mekelle and that it was the end of the Tigray offensive. [23] Debretsion confirmed the TPLF were withdrawing from around Mekelle. [3] Tigrayan forces said they had withdrawn from Mekelle to avoid having the federal forces from further destroying the city and that the TPLF will be fighting in surrounding rural areas, beginning a new guerrilla campaign. [6]
The International Committee of Red Cross which visited Mekelle after the battle, said hospitals were facing difficulties in providing healthcare to patients. 80% of the people at the Ayder Referral Hospital had trauma injuries, causing other services to be suspended. The hospital was also facing a shortage of body bags. Food in the Tigray region had also run out, causing 1,000 Eritrean refugees to request food and other assistance in Mekelle. [24] Analysts[ who? ] have previously stated that the TPLF could switch to insurgency after losing territory. [25]
On 30 November, Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed told the parliament that federal soldiers have not killed a single civilian during the month-long conflict in the Tigray region, and stated that his army will not destroy Mekelle. [26] However, subsequent reports by both The New York Times and Human Rights Watch report found – after interviewing a number of witnesses – that not only were civilians killed by Ethiopian artillery strikes, [6] but that the strikes "did not appear [to be] aimed at specific military targets," and were instead striking "generalized populated areas." [10]
As of 3 December, electricity had been cut off in the city, which emboldened armed troops (possibly Amhara militiamen) to loot stores at night, forcing many to close. [6]
By 28 June 2021, TPLF rebels recaptured Mekelle as well as bordering Ethiopian villages. [27] The interim government went into exile [28] and the Ethiopian government declared a ceasefire. [29]
Debretsion Gebremichael is an Ethiopian politician serving as the chairman of Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). He was previously the president of the Tigray Region. His position as titular head of the Tigray Region was disputed by the federal government of Ethiopia who in November 2020 appointed Mulu Nega as the chief executive of the Transitional Government of Tigray, succeeded by Abraham Belay. From July 2021 to March 2023, Debretsion again led the Tigray Region, while Abraham Belay left the transitional government to become Ethiopia's minister of Defence.
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 Transitional Government of Tigray was a caretaker administration that was formally declared by the House of Federation of Ethiopia on 7 November 2020, in the context of a conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in power in the Tigray Regional State and the federal government of Ethiopia. In late November 2020, the administration, headed by Mulu Nega, planned public consultation and participation in choosing new leaders at the regional and zonal level and preservation of woreda and kebele administrations. The Transitional Government left Tigray in late June 2021 during Operation Alula.
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.
On 3–4 November 2020, forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) launched attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle and bases in Adigrat, Agula, Dansha, and Sero in the Tigray Region, marking the beginning of the Tigray War. The Ethiopian federal government stated that these attacks justified the ENDF's military action against the TPLF, which, at the time the attacks occurred, held control over the Tigray Region. The TPLF described the action as "a pre-emptive strike."
Events in the year 2021 in Ethiopia.
Sexual violence in the Tigray War included, according to the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, people forced to rape family members, "sex in exchange for basic commodities", and "increases in the demand for emergency contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections".
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.
The Tigrayan peace process encompasses the series of proposals, meetings, agreements and actions that aimed to resolve the Tigray War.
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.
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.
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.
Abiy Ahmed's tenure as prime minister of Ethiopia began on 2 April 2018 with his swearing-in at the Ethiopian parliament, succeeding Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy is the first person of Oromo descent to hold the office, and became chair of the ruling Prosperity Party after the dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in November 2019.
Since the start of Tigray War in November 2020, the Eritrean government has been heavily involved in the war against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in support of the Ethiopian government.
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.
Mr Abiy said the army was in full control and that this "marks the completion of the [military's] last phase".
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