Berliner Boersenzeitung - New air strike hits capital of Ethiopia's Tigray

EUR -
AED 4.306564
AFN 82.07473
ALL 98.07928
AMD 450.462029
ANG 2.098329
AOA 1075.180837
ARS 1470.911341
AUD 1.795583
AWG 2.110496
AZN 1.994833
BAM 1.954072
BBD 2.365908
BDT 142.957227
BGN 1.958101
BHD 0.441939
BIF 3448.316747
BMD 1.172498
BND 1.498088
BOB 8.096839
BRL 6.386479
BSD 1.171864
BTN 100.36224
BWP 15.644764
BYN 3.834741
BYR 22980.961662
BZD 2.353738
CAD 1.604147
CDF 3383.82969
CHF 0.932676
CLF 0.028837
CLP 1106.615901
CNY 8.411559
CNH 8.420084
COP 4749.203327
CRC 592.381151
CUC 1.172498
CUP 31.071198
CVE 110.914745
CZK 24.655266
DJF 208.376372
DKK 7.460464
DOP 70.461679
DZD 152.027785
EGP 58.254421
ERN 17.587471
ETB 159.195906
FJD 2.635483
FKP 0.859842
GBP 0.862548
GEL 3.177825
GGP 0.859842
GHS 12.194244
GIP 0.859842
GMD 83.84075
GNF 10149.142868
GTQ 9.006265
GYD 245.165722
HKD 9.204045
HNL 30.778505
HRK 7.536345
HTG 153.793985
HUF 400.327198
IDR 19083.578164
ILS 3.933251
IMP 0.859842
INR 100.558355
IQD 1535.972438
IRR 49391.480771
ISK 142.997752
JEP 0.859842
JMD 187.029377
JOD 0.831313
JPY 171.968527
KES 151.844248
KGS 102.53503
KHR 4714.61482
KMF 493.03675
KPW 1055.245989
KRW 1606.005645
KWD 0.35821
KYD 0.976578
KZT 608.871515
LAK 25267.332673
LBP 105055.824928
LKR 352.267468
LRD 235.091339
LSL 20.94035
LTL 3.462081
LVL 0.709233
LYD 6.320069
MAD 10.570656
MDL 19.833221
MGA 5194.166756
MKD 61.568241
MMK 2461.324166
MNT 4207.875629
MOP 9.475205
MRU 46.554046
MUR 52.832749
MVR 18.055148
MWK 2036.043438
MXN 21.849923
MYR 4.97257
MZN 74.993093
NAD 20.940656
NGN 1799.303633
NIO 43.089378
NOK 11.838836
NPR 160.581352
NZD 1.953306
OMR 0.45082
PAB 1.171774
PEN 4.18054
PGK 4.836525
PHP 66.352829
PKR 333.282006
PLN 4.244047
PYG 9338.979567
QAR 4.268594
RON 5.077154
RSD 117.205312
RUB 92.041524
RWF 1681.362195
SAR 4.397437
SBD 9.775027
SCR 16.647475
SDG 704.085317
SEK 11.167924
SGD 1.50017
SHP 0.921399
SLE 26.387949
SLL 24586.70203
SOS 670.083281
SRD 43.76173
STD 24268.342246
SVC 10.253194
SYP 15244.664935
SZL 20.940575
THB 38.164327
TJS 11.255322
TMT 4.115468
TND 3.392223
TOP 2.746106
TRY 46.92654
TTD 7.950037
TWD 34.141383
TZS 3095.619921
UAH 48.945865
UGX 4212.274669
USD 1.172498
UYU 47.049593
UZS 14884.862264
VES 130.478221
VND 30643.236379
VUV 139.320918
WST 3.213217
XAF 655.388554
XAG 0.031979
XAU 0.000355
XCD 3.168734
XDR 0.814451
XOF 653.081314
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.920527
ZAR 20.85862
ZMK 10553.89098
ZMW 28.385896
ZWL 377.543892
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

New air strike hits capital of Ethiopia's Tigray
New air strike hits capital of Ethiopia's Tigray / Photo: Aude GENET - AFP/File

New air strike hits capital of Ethiopia's Tigray

The capital of the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray was hit by an air strike around midnight Tuesday, Tigray rebels and hospital officials said, the latest such attack reported in just a few days.

Text size:

The bombings came after a resumption of fighting on the ground between government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) last week.

The renewed clashes have shattered a five-month-old truce and cast a pall over efforts to try to end the nearly two-year conflict in the north of Africa's second most populous country.

"Night time drone attack in Mekele. No conceivable military targets!" TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said on Twitter. "Mekele Hospital among the targets and at least three bombs dropped."

Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief clinical director at Mekele's Ayder Referral Hospital, also said on Twitter there had been a drone attack "close to midnight" near Mekele general hospital.

"Casualties are arriving to Ayder Hospital," he said, without giving details.

Ethiopian government officials were not immediately reachable for comment.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government and the TPLF have each blamed the other for the fighting that erupted last Wednesday in areas bordering the southeastern tip of Tigray.

At least four people including children were killed Friday in the first air strike on Mekele in many months, an attack condemned by the UN children's agency UNICEF.

Local channel Tigrai TV had put the death toll at seven, including three children.

Tigrayan rebels had accused the government of hitting a residential area and a kindergarten.

But Addis Ababa said only military sites were targeted and accused the TPLF of "dumping fake body bags in civilian areas" to manufacture outrage.

Access to northern Ethiopia is severely restricted and it is not possible to independently verify the situation on the ground or the claims by the warring sides.

"We are fighting a defensive war," Getachew said earlier Tuesday at a press conference broadcast online, adding: "We will remain open for any negotiations."

Residents, as well as diplomatic and humanitarian sources, have said that in recent days TPLF fighters have pushed about 50 kilometres (30 miles) south from Tigray into Amhara and to the southeast into Afar, sending many people fleeing.

"We have defended our positions and we are now launching a counter-offensive," Getachew said.

"Abiy keeps making miscalculation after miscalculation, he keeps sending reinforcements and we'll continue to neutralise (them) and that will take us probably deeper and deeper into Amhara region."

- Roads 'clogged with fleeing people' -

Abiy's government announced Saturday that federal forces had pulled back from Kobo, which lies about 15 kilometres south of Tigray, to avoid "mass casualties".

Getachew said Tuesday a significant part of the North Wollo zone in Amhara was in rebel hands although the TPLF did not want to control the area.

In response, the Government Communication Service said: "The federal government is still committed to the peaceful resolution to the conflict that was once again initiated by the TPLF terrorist group."

A local NGO active in Afar, the APDA, said on Twitter about 18,000 people had been displaced by fighting, mainly women and children, and that roads in one area were "clogged with fleeing people".

It said the TPLF was apparently advancing towards Keliwan, a town in Afar to the east of Kobo, and that people were evacuating.

- Calls for restraint -

The war, which erupted in November 2020, has killed untold numbers of civilians and left millions in need of humanitarian aid across the north.

Since the latest combat flared, the international community has issued appeals for restraint, including from UN chief Antonio Guterres and the African Union.

Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed last week that he had spoken to Abiy as well as TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael to call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and "the creation of conditions to restart an effective political dialogue".

Debretsion disclosed last week that "two rounds of confidential face-to-face" meetings with top civilian and military officials had taken place, the first acknowledgement by either side of direct contacts.

But the rivals have been at odds over who should lead negotiations, with Abiy's government saying the AU should broker any dialogue while the TPLF wanted Kenya's outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta to mediate and has also called for the restoration of basic services to Tigray.

The March truce allowed the resumption of international aid convoys to Tigray after a three-month break, while the region remains without access to basic services and struggles with food shortages.

Abiy, a Nobel Peace laureate, sent troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF in response to what he said were rebel attacks on federal army camps.

The TPLF mounted a comeback, recapturing most of Tigray in June 2021 and expanding into Afar and Amhara, before the fighting reached a stalemate.

(T.Renner--BBZ)