ADDIS ABABA – The leader of Ethiopia’s Tigray region today claimed responsibility for rocket strikes on the airport in neighbouring Eritrea’s capital, a move that ramped up fears of a wider conflict in the Horn of Africa region.
Diplomats told AFP last night that multiple rockets struck Asmara, landing near the airport, though communications restrictions in Tigray and Eritrea made the reports difficult to verify.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on November 4 announced that he has ordered military operations in Tigray, in a dramatic escalation of a long-running feud with the region’s ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
“Ethiopian forces are also using the airport of Asmara,” TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael told AFP, saying this made the hub a “legitimate target” for the strikes.
He said his forces have been fighting “16 divisions” of Eritrean forces in recent days “on several fronts”.
TPLF previously accused Abiy’s government of enlisting military support from Eritrea, a claim that Ethiopia denies.
There was no immediate response from the Eritrean or Ethiopian government today.
Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in the conflict in Africa’s second-most-populous country, some in a gruesome massacre documented by Amnesty International.
Thousands have fled the fighting and air strikes in Tigray, crossing into neighbouring Sudan.
It is not immediately clear how many rockets were fired last night, where in Tigray they were fired from, whether they hit their targets or what damage they inflicted.
TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades and fought a brutal 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea that left tens of thousands dead.
Abiy came to power in 2018 and won the Nobel Peace Prize the following year in large part for his efforts to initiate a rapprochement with Eritrea. – AFP, November 15, 2020
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