Ethiopian Government Admits Forces Fired at UN Team in Tigray

Under the rule of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopian soldiers have been fighting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the region since early November. Thousands are feared dead as a result of the conflict.

Ethiopian forces opened fire on a United Nations team visiting refugees in the country, the spokesman for the Ethiopian government’s task force for Tigray – Redwan Hussein – admitted on Tuesday.

He claimed that the team ignored instructions and drove through government checkpoints in the war-torn region without stopping.

The UN team arrived in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to visit the Shimelba camp for Eritrean refugees, when they were targeted by the Ethiopian army on Sunday.

The UN and aid agencies have been pressing for safe access to Tigray, where more than 5 million people live, many of whom relied on food aid – a plight which has been made worse by the recent conflict. 

Hussein argued that the UN is not playing by the rules.  

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a military operation in Tigray on 4 November, months after cutting ties with the local TPLF authorities after they refused to follow a federal order to postpone elections amid the coronavirus pandemic. The region held elections but the results were never recognised by Addis Ababa. The TPLF quitted Abiy’s governing coalition in 2019. 

Sourse: sputniknews.com