This is the seventh aerial bombardment by Ethiopian forces in the war-hit region this week.
TPLF’s training and command post was the target of the latest air strike. (Reuters)
Ethiopia’s military has launched a fresh air strike on a rebel-held facility in Tigray’s west
“Today the western front of (Mai Tsebri) which was serving as a training and military command post for the terrorist group TPLF has been the target of an air strike,” government spokesperson Selamawit Kassa said, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Mai Aini and Adi Harush Refugee Camps, which host thousands of Eritrean refugees, are both in the vicinity of Mai Tsebri.
Ethiopian government spokerperson Legesse Tulu said that the refugee camps were not affected by the strike.
Representatives from Ethiopia’s Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The war in Africa’s second-most populous country has been going on ground for nearly a year between Ethiopian and allied forces and the Tigray rebels – who long dominated the national government before a falling-out with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Landlocked Ethiopia, one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, and Eritrea, one of the world’s most closed-off nations, also plan development co-operation around Eritrea’s Red Sea ports in particular.
Reports on social media on Monday indicated that mine-clearing activities were underway in one border area, signaling that an opening was planned.
Abiy on Monday told a new year’s eve concert crowd of thousands in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, that “as of today, Ethiopian and Eritrean people will prosper together and march in unison. … The last five months have brought hope and reconciliation.”
The reconciliation between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been warmly welcomed by the international community and has led to a series of further thaws in the fragile Horn of Africa region, with Eritrea resuming diplomatic ties with both turbulent Somalia and the small but strategic port and military nation of Djibouti.
