Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA/NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ethiopian forces will take control of the Tigray region’s capital Mekelle in coming days, the military said late on Friday, a day after the Prime Minister announced the “final phase” of an offensive in the region.

Federal forces seized control of Wikro, a town 50 km (30 miles) north of Mekelle and “will control Mekelle in a few days”, Lieutenant-General Hassan Ibrahim said in a statement. Government troops had also taken control of several other towns, he said.

ADDIS ABABA/NAIROBI (Reuters) - Tigrayan forces said on Tuesday they had destroyed an Ethiopian army division in battles to control the northern region where a three-week-old war has killed hundreds and spread global alarm.

The federal government denied that and said many Tigrayan soldiers were surrendering in line with a 72-hour ultimatum before a threatened attack on the regional capital Mekelle.

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 22 (NNN-ENA) – The Ethiopian government, yesterday announced the capture of cities from Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters, in different directions across the restive Tigray regional state.

“The Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF), took full control of Axum, Adwa and surrounding areas of Adigrat,” the state of emergency task force, established by the federal government, to watch over ongoing military operations against the TPLF, said.

20 Nov 2020; MEMO: The UN and its international partners are working on a response plan for about 2000,000 refugees that may arrive over the next six months from the conflict-ridden Tigray region of Ethiopia, a UN refugee agency official said on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Axel Bisschop, UNHCR representative in Sudan, briefed media in Geneva about the conflict unfolding in Ethiopia.

"Together with all the agencies, we have built a response plan for about 200,000 people."

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Rebel forces from Ethiopia’s Tigray region fired rockets on Friday at the distant capital of the neighbouring Amhara region, Amhara authorities said, raising worries the conflict could spill into a wider war.

Two weeks into the conflict, the United Nations said it was making plans for as many as 200,000 refugees fleeing into neighbouring Sudan, and made an urgent appeal for $200 million to assist them.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia’s military accused World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday of supporting and trying to procure arms and diplomatic support for Tigray state’s dominant political party, which is fighting federal troops.

“This man is a member of that group and he has been doing everything to support them,” army chief of staff General Birhanu Jula said in a televised statement.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia’s government on Thursday said rebels have committed “serious crimes” after conflict broke out this month in the northern Tigray region, as U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s foreign policy adviser called for greater protection of civilians.

The conflict has killed hundreds, sent 30,000 refugees into neighbouring Sudan, and called into question whether Africa’s youngest leader Abiy Ahmed can hold together the fractious ethnic groups in Africa’s second most populous nation ahead of national elections next year.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Two airports in Ethiopia’s Amhara state which neighbours Tigray where federal troops are fighting local forces were targeted by rocket fire late on Friday, the government said, as an 11-day conflict widened.

The airport in Gondar in Amhara state, which neighbours Tigray, was hit on Friday, while another rocket aimed at the Bahir Dar airport missed the target, the government said.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia sought to tighten its grip on the rebellious Tigray region on Friday by appointing a new local leader during a military offensive that has killed hundreds and shaken the wider Horn of Africa region.

Federal troops’ 10-day push against the northern state has sent refugees flooding into Sudan and raised fears it may suck in Eritrea or weaken an African force opposing Islamist militants in Somalia if Ethiopia diverts troops from there.

ADDIS ABABA, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Saturday stressed that "criminal elements cannot escape rule of law" amid ongoing military operations in the East African country's northernmost region.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday ordered military operations against the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in the northern state of Tigray in response to an attack on a government army base earlier in the day.