The Ethiopian government announced that its air forces bombed military targets in the vicinity of Maqli, the capital of the Tigray region, where the army is engaged in an armed confrontation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray.
This came from Radwan Hussein, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and spokesman for the newly formed Emergency Committee regarding the ongoing conflict, and Brigadier General Kittila Bolti, spokesman for the Ethiopian army, in a joint press conference.
Hussein confirmed that the Ethiopian Air Force raided military sites on the outskirts of the city of Maqli, capital of Tigray region, not in the city.
However, Reuters quoted 4 diplomatic and military sources as saying that the Ethiopian Air Force bombed, on Monday, sites in and around Muqli, the capital of Tigray region, with the ongoing conflict in the region for about two weeks. Local in the region and TV media said the bombing took place at midday.
Reuters quoted the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray, his call to the United Nations and the African Union to condemn the horrific attacks of the Ethiopian forces, as he put it.
Reinforcements
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian federal forces continue to send more reinforcements to the Tigray region, with the close of the deadline set by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for the Tigray Liberation Front to hand over their weapons.
Al-Jazeera camera detected buses carrying soldiers and supplies heading to the confrontation lines separating the Amhara region and the Tigray region, while the military confrontations continued on the eleventh day.
The Federal Council of the Ethiopian Parliament refused to negotiate with the Tigray People's Liberation Front, considering it a violation of the constitution.
The Council also announced - in a statement - its refusal to describe the military operation in the Tigray region as a civil war, and confirmed that it came under an order from the Federation Council to impose the rule of law.
The council also accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front of carrying out coordinated strikes against military bases of the Ethiopian forces in different parts of the Tigray region.
Mediations
With the escalation of the conflict, various mediations appear to be taking shape on Monday to put an end to the conflict raging since November 4, between the Ethiopian army and the rebel forces of the Tigray region, after the weekend witnessed a dangerous escalation.
"There must be negotiations and the conflict ends," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said after receiving Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demiki Mekonnen Hassan, in Gulu, northern Uganda.
On the eve of the meeting, government officials told AFP that Museveni would meet representatives of the government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front on Monday to start the mediation.
For his part, a spokesman for former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said today, Monday, that Obasanjo went to Ethiopia, at a time when African and European countries are pressing for a solution to the conflict that has been going on for nearly two weeks in the Tigray region.
"The former president is on his way to Ethiopia now, but I don't know what he will do there," said spokesman Kenny Akineme.
A diplomat in Addis Ababa confirmed his arrival.
On 4 November, armed confrontations began between the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People's Liberation Front in the region.
The Popular Front dominated political life in Ethiopia for nearly 3 decades, before Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, becoming the first prime minister of the Oromo ethnicity.
And Oromo is the largest ethnicity in Ethiopia with 34.9% of the population, which is about 108 million people, while Tigray is the third largest with 7.3%.
The front, which complains of the marginalization of the federal authorities, split from the ruling coalition, and challenged Abiy Ahmed to hold regional elections last September, which the government considered illegal, in light of a federal decision to postpone the elections due to the Corona pandemic.