Thousands of Amhara families are fleeing violence in the north to the town of Dessie in Ethiopia. Officials fear that with additional conflicts, the already packed makeshift camps, where displaced people sleep in rows in school classrooms, may become even more crowded.
Last November, a dispute arose between the ruling party of Tigray’s rebellious northern region, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and Ethiopia’s central government.
The TPLF advanced into the neighbouring Amhara area, whose forces had fought alongside the military against the Tigrayans, as well as into the Afar region, in July.
According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Tigrayan advance drove over 250,000 people to flee their homes in Amhara.
Following a barrage of air strikes reported last week, the TPLF announced on Monday that the Ethiopian military has initiated an attack to evict Tigrayan fighters from Amhara.
The military and government have not responded to requests for information about the attack, but a post on the military’s official Facebook page said that ‘they (the TPLF) have launched war on all fronts’ and that the military was causing ‘many fatalities.’
Both sides accuse each other of crimes against humanity. Reuters had previously reported on gang rapes and mass killings of civilians in Tigray, and Amhara locals have informed that the Tigrayans are also abusing people in the territory that they control. The charges have been refuted by both parties.
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