8,000 Ethiopians fleeing conflict in Tigray cross into Sudan

More than 8,000 Ethiopians fleeing conflict in the Tigray region have crossed west into neighboring Sudan within 48 hours, state news agency SUNA said Wednesday.

The report said the latest arrivals included 6,000 who had taken refuge in the state of Gedaref and about 1,100 in Kassala, both in eastern Sudan.

Local officials quoted by SUNA said they feared the influx of refugees, for whom local farmers had been collecting food and providing shelter, could rise exponentially in coming days.

Among those who have fled across the border are Ethiopian soldiers, Alsir Khaled, head of Sudan's refugee agency in Kassala, said on Tuesday.

Sudanese efforts to help the refugees were stretched, said Khaled, adding that Khartoum was awaiting support from international aid agencies.

The UN refugee agency has said it is "mobilizing resources to provide lifesaving assistance."

The international community has expressed concern about the potential for a drawn-out conflict in Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops and military jets into the federal state of Tigray last week after a months-long feud with its ruling party which he accuses of seeking to destabilize the country.

Abiy, last year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) had crossed a "red line" and attacked two federal military bases, which the party denies.

Abiy – who has repeatedly sought to defend and justify the military operation – said Tuesday it would end "as soon as the criminal junta is disarmed, legitimate administration in the region restored, and fugitives apprehended & brought to justice."

Ethiopia bombs Tigray arms depots 

Separately, Ethiopia's air force said Wednesday it had bombed arms and fuel depots in the northern region of Tigray.

Ethiopia's air force commander Major General Yilma Merdassa said fighter jets had "bombed arms and fuel depots as well as other areas that the TPLF junta has planned to use," the state-affiliated Fana Broadcast Corporate (FBC) reported.

Ethiopia’s Defense Force seizes airport in Humera amid Tigray tension

The government has so far introduced a number of reforms, including legalizing previously banned opposition groups, and making peace with Eritrea.

Tigray has been under a communications blackout since the military operation was launched on November 4, making it difficult to verify the situation on the ground as both sides make conflicting claims about casualties and advances.

The head of the army's indoctrination division Mohammed Tessema said the city of Humera in western Tigray was "under the full control" of the army.

"The army is currently recapturing places on the road from Humera city to Sheraro city," further south, the state owned Ethiopian News Agency quoted him as saying.

The head of the Ethiopian army's northern division, Major General Belay Seyoum, told national media on Tuesday evening that 550 enemy combatants had been killed and 29 captured so far.

Soldiers arrested for ‘treason’

Earlier FBC, citing the police, reported that "17 military officers have been arrested for creating fertile ground" for the TPLF to attack the national army.

The officers are accused of cutting communication systems between the military's northern and central command, an act described as "treason".

According to the FBC, one of the suspects was the head of the army's communication department, who was caught sending 11 boxes "packed with explosives and missile components" to the TPLF.

Ethiopia's human rights commission chief Daniel Bekele on Twitter expressed concern over the arrests of six journalists, without giving details on when they were detained, and on what charges.

Ethiopia PM downplays war fears while hundreds killed in north

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rules out the possibility of civil war in his country.

Sent naked across the border

The TPLF dominated politics in Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy came to power in 2018.

Since then they have complained about being sidelined and blamed for the country's woes, and tensions between the two camps have soared in recent months.

The TPLF continues to deny the attacks which Abiy said prompted the military operation in Tigray, while government and military officials describe them in ever-greater detail.

Lieutenant General Bacha Debele, who had retired but returned to the military in recent days, said at a press conference Tuesday that Tigrayan members of the army's Northern Command had received a mission from the TPLF to "destroy the army from inside".

He said communications with central command were cut when the attack began, that several army commanders had been kidnapped, and that units were left without food and water for three days by the rogue soldiers and TPLF forces.

He said one army brigade "lost almost all its members ... and the enemy also lost many of its members", without detailing how many had died.

However Bacha denied reports the entire Northern Command had defected.

His claims could not be independently verified.

(Source: Agencies)

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