Amid Ethiopia peace push, rebels say Tigray university hit in airstrike

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) – Ethiopia’s Tigray rebels on Tuesday accused the government of targeting a university campus in an airstrike in the regional capital Mekelle, a potential setback to efforts to revive talks to end the nearly 2-year conflict.

Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said “drones targeted Mekelle University’s Adi Haki campus.”

He did not share any details of casualties or damage caused by the attack.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s “massive offensive” in Tigray “is crumbling like a house of cards,” he said on Twitter.​​​​​​​

The Ethiopian government is yet to respond to the rebels’ claim.

Military sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told Anadolu Agency that the TPLF “attempted an incursion via the Humera front” in northwestern Ethiopia on Monday.

Hopes for peace talks between the TPLF and Abiy’s government were handed a welcome boost on Sunday after the rebels said they were willing to halt fighting and take part in dialogue led by the African Union (AU).

The announcement was widely hailed by the international community, with countries including Türkiye and the US reiterating the need for a permanent end to the conflict that has raged in northern Ethiopia since November 2020.

A months-long truce was shattered in late August, with fighting quickly spreading along the administrative borders between Tigray and the states of Amhara and Afar.

The TPLF was previously opposed to AU mediation, accusing its special envoy for Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, of having close ties with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

According to military sources, the Ethiopian military has made significant inroads into Tigray, Amhara and Afar, taking over strategic areas and towns that were under TPLF control for the past year.

Mike Hammer, the US special envoy for the Horn of Africa, has been in Ethiopia for nearly a week, during which he has held talks with senior Ethiopian officials as well as African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat and Obasanjo.

According to the UN, more than 2 million have been displaced in the Tigray conflict over the past two years, with another 10 million in need of urgent humanitarian aid in Tigray, Amhara and Afar.