The Ethiopian government said on Friday that 70 percent of the war-torn northern region of Tigray is now under the control of the federal army and that aid is being sent – claims quickly dismissed by Tigrayan rebels.
“70% of Tigray is under the ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Force),” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s national security adviser Redwan Hussein posted on Twitter.
“Aid is flowing like never before,” he said, adding that trucks with food and medicine have been dispatched to the strategic Shire town and that flights are allowed into the area.
Restoring aid to the region of about six million people is one of the key pillars of a landmark peace deal between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to end two years of brutal war in northern Ethiopia.
But the rebels denied Redwan’s claims.
“He gets his facts out of thin air,” TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda told AFP in a message.
AFP has not been able to independently verify the claims as Tigray remains inaccessible to journalists.
The northernmost region is facing a severe humanitarian crisis due to lack of food and medicine, and access to basic services such as electricity, banking and communications is limited.
Redwan’s comments were also dismissed by a Tigray-based humanitarian.
“What Redwan tweeted is completely false,” the worker told AFP. “No resource whatsoever is allowed to enter Shire City.
“No services have been reconnected and no flights are allowed.”
– ‘Many are starving’ –
The peace agreement was signed on November 2 in the South African capital of Pretoria, after just over a week of negotiations between the federal government and TPLF delegations mediated by the African Union.
In particular, it calls for a cessation of hostilities, the restoration of humanitarian aid, the restoration of federal authority over Tigray and the disarmament of TPLF fighters.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization called for a massive influx of food and medicine into Tigray following the ceasefire agreement, saying much-needed aid has yet to be admitted.
“Many people are dying from treatable diseases. Many people are dying of hunger,” Tigray-born WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.
“Even in the middle of a fight, civilians need food, they need medicine. That can’t be a condition.”
Talks between representatives of the warring parties took place this week in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to pursue the Pretoria Agreement.
The meetings were set to discuss rebel disarmament, while the AU said they should also provide a “roadmap” for immediate humanitarian access and the restoration of services in Tigray.
The conflict between the TPLF and pro-Abiy forces, which include regional militias and the Eritrean army, has caused untold deaths, forced more than two million from their homes and sparked reports of horrific mistreatment by all parties.
Estimates of casualties vary widely, with the United States saying up to half a million people have died while EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said more than 100,000 people may have been killed.
UN investigators have accused Addis Ababa of possible crimes against humanity in Tigray and the use of hunger as a weapon of war – allegations denied by Ethiopian authorities.
Abiy – a Nobel Peace Prize winner – dispatched troops to Tigray on November 4, 2020 to overthrow the TPLF, the region’s ruling party, in response to attacks by the group on federal army camps, he said.
