World Ethiopia: Army bombs Mekele, the capital of Tigray

© AP This satellite image taken on Monday 23 November 2020 shows vehicles lining up to get fuel in Mekele, the capital of Ethiopia's Tigray region.

In Ethiopia, the battle of Mekele began this Saturday morning, November 28, according to the leaders of the TPLF Tigray party who ensure that the city is hit by artillery fire. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had been promising the establishment of the “final” phase of his military campaign for three days. The army had warned that there would be no mercy in retaking the provincial capital, home to nearly 500,000 people.

With our correspondent in Addis Ababa, Noé Hochet-Bodin

Conflict in Tigray: the fighting continues in the absence of any humanitarian aid

© AP Ethiopian soldiers on the road leading to the border with Tigray. Last Tuesday, the United Nations sounded the alarm bells, calling the crisis in Tigray a major tragedy. Since that call, nothing has really changed. For 18 days now, clashes have continued in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, between the federal army and the troops of the Tigrayan dissident party, the TPLF. A conflict without independent witnesses.

Fearing an imminent assault, people are fleeing Mekele , the capital of Ethiopia 's Tigray region, after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's order for the "final The Ethiopian army has been battling local forces in Tigray since November 4, when Abiy sent the national defense force into the area, after accusing

Ethiopian forces will take control of the Tigray region's capital Mekelle in coming days, the military said late on Friday, a day after the Prime Minister announced the "final phase" of an offensive in the region. Federal forces seized control of Wikro, a town 50 km (30 miles) north of Mekelle and "will

The bombardments on Mekele come just hours after the federal army retook the town of Wukro, 40 km to the north. The provincial capital was therefore surrounded. The offensive also unfolds hours after the TPLF rocket fire into Eritrea.

According to the leaders of the TPLF, aid workers and Tigrayan television, the artillery fire started around 8 a.m. Debretsion Gebremichael, president of the TPLF, assures us that it is heavy weapon fire. Other sources say around ten buses reached the city center by mid-morning.

The central question remains that of civilians. About 500,000 of them are trapped under the bombs. It is not yet known whether there are any casualties. Information is difficult to verify in real time.

The protection of civilians was precisely the subject of the meeting of emissaries of the African Union in Addis Ababa on Friday 27 November. The government asked them not to worry, that the bombing would be meticulously aimed at military targets so as not to cause collateral damage.

This statement is also impossible to verify. Tigray, in fact, has still been cut off from the world for 25 days, with the fighting taking place far from the eyes of observers.

► See also: Refugees fleeing Ethiopia tell about the fighting in Tigray