ADDIS ABABA — The
UN on Saturday condemned
an Ethiopian air strike on a kindergarten in rebel-held Tigray that killed at least
four people, as diplomats urged that civilians not be targeted.
اضافة اعلان
Addis Ababa denied bombing civilian areas in
Friday’s air raid on the city of Mekele, and accused the
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) of staging deaths.
But the UN children’s agency UNICEF said the strike
“hit a kindergarten, killing several children, and injuring others”.
“UNICEF strongly condemns the air strike,” said
UNICEF chief Catherine Russell.
“Yet again, an escalation of violence in northern
Ethiopia has caused children to pay the heaviest price. For almost two years,
children and their families in the region have endured the agony of this
conflict. It must end.”
The bombardment came just days after fighting
erupted on Tigray’s southern border between government forces and TPLF rebels,
ending a five-month truce and dashing hopes of peace talks.
The TPLF said the air strike, the first in many
months on Tigray, demolished a kindergarten and hit a civilian residential
area.
The government said only military sites were
targeted and accused the TPLF of “dumping fake body bags in civilian areas” to
maximize outrage.
An official at Mekele’s
Ayder Referral Hospital told
AFP four people died in the strike, including two children, while nine others
were injured.
Tigrai TV, a local network, put the death toll at
seven, including three children.
The broadcaster aired graphic footage of mangled
playground equipment and a compound brightly painted with cartoons in ruins at
the apparent scene of the strike.
The claims could not be independently verified as
access to northern Ethiopia is severely restricted.
‘Appalling’
Vicky Ford, the UK’s
Minister for Africa, said the protection of civilians must be prioritized under
international law.
“Reports of civilian casualties following airstrikes
on #Tigray are appalling,” she said on Twitter on Saturday.
The EU commissioner for crisis management, Janez
Lenarcic, echoed calls for international law to be respected.
“Civilians are
#NotATarget,” he said on Twitter.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, himself from
Tigray, described the air strike as “barbaric” and “horrifying”.
“Children killed in a kindergarten in today’s air
strike on #Tigray, while the 21-month starvation, deprivation & death of children
continue,” he posted on Twitter.
In March, the UN said at least 304 civilians had
been killed in the three months prior in airstrikes “apparently carried out by
the Ethiopian Air Force”.
The UN human rights office has documented aerial
bombardments and drone strikes on refugee camps, a hotel and a market in the
country’s north, and warned that disproportionate attacks against non-military
targets could amount to war crimes.
Ethiopia’s air force operates the only known
military aircraft over the country’s skies.
Untold numbers have been killed in northern
Ethiopia since the war began in November 2020.
The conflict has been marked by reports of
atrocities, including mass killings and sexual violence.
A truce in March paused the worst of the bloodshed
and allowed aid convoys to slowly start returning to Tigray, where a major
humanitarian crisis is under way.
The UN says millions are nearing starvation in the
northern region, while dire shortages of fuel, medicine and cash have hindered
efforts to assist those in need.
Return to combat
Since the end of June, Prime
Minister
Abiy Ahmed’s government and the rebels have repeatedly stated their
willingness to enter peace negotiations, but disagreed on the terms of such
talks.
And on Wednesday, fresh offensives erupted in an
area bordering Tigray, Amhara and Afar, with both sides accusing the other of
firing first.
The situation on the ground remains difficult to
assess.
On Saturday, the government accused the TPLF of
“expanding its attacks on various fronts” but offered little in the way of
concrete detail.
“While the peace option proposed by the government
is preserved, our heroic national defense forces are coordinating and
responding with full efficiency and capabilities, against the large-scale
attack launching by this terrorist group,” the government said in a statement.
Spokespeople for the TPLF could not be reached for
comment.
The UK on Saturday upgraded its security advice for
Ethiopia, advising citizens against all travel to the popular tourist destination
of Lalibela, and the road onward to Tigray.
The flare up has alarmed the international
community, which has been pushing both sides to peacefully resolve the 21-month
war in Africa’s second most populous nation.
Abiy sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to
topple the TPLF, accusing the former ruling party of the dissident region of
orchestrating attacks on federal army camps.
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