The situation continues to deteriorate in Ethiopia.

While fighting resumed a week ago after a five-month truce, government and rebels in the Tigray region accused each other on Wednesday, August 31, of having opened new fronts in the north of the country.

This possible extension of the conflict comes the day after a new air raid against the Tigray capital, Mekele, the second since the resumption of hostilities on August 24, in areas of the Amhara and Afar regions surrounding the point southeast of Tigray.

In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, the Ethiopian government accused the rebels of having "extended their offensive to other areas" of northern Ethiopia, in the administrative zone of Wag (northeast Amhara), in Wolkait, a district in western Tigray, and in areas of western Amhara bordering Sudan.

Questioned by AFP, Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the rebel authorities in Tigray, in return accused the "Abiy regime" of having "launched an offensive in these areas".

No confirmation of fighting in these could not be obtained immediately from an independent source.

Journalists do not have access to northern Ethiopia, making independent verification impossible, and telecommunications networks there operate haphazardly.

Claimed by the Tigrayans and the Amhara - the second ethno-linguistic population of the country -, the administrative zone of Western Tigray has been occupied since the end of 2020 by the regional forces of Amhara, which lend a hand to the federal army in the conflict.

In its press release, the Ethiopian government does not mention this new strike, which it has neither confirmed nor denied.

A humanitarian source who requested anonymity, however, confirmed to AFP on Wednesday the night airstrike on Mekele, without further details.

Some 18,000 people displaced by renewed fighting

The rebel authorities in Tigray said in a statement that the raid had "caused minor to serious injuries to civilians as well as property damage", without further details.

An airstrike had already hit the town on August 26, killing at least four people, including two children, according to Dr Kibrom, an official at Ayder Hospital, the principal of Mekele.

The rebels and Unicef ​​claimed that a "kindergarten" had been hit, the government retorting that its air force only targeted "military sites".

Getachew Reda claimed that the new "night drone raid on Mekele" did not target any "military targets" and accused Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of "killing children and innocent civilians".

On Tuesday, Getachew Reda explained that the Tigrayan rebels, after having initially "defended (their) positions", had launched a counter-offensive beyond the southern border of Tigray.

In its press release, the government affirms that the army "valiantly defended itself against the attacks launched" by the rebels "in the east of Amhara".

In recent days, according to diplomatic, humanitarian and local sources, the rebels have advanced about fifty kilometers inside Amhara, approaching the town of Woldiya, as well as in Afar.

On Tuesday, the APDA, an NGO active in Afar, said it had already identified 18,000 people displaced there by the resumption of fighting in the region and said it feared that their number would increase in the face of "the advance of the rebels" in the direction of of Amhara.

Government and rebels always ready to negotiate

Quickly defeated in November 2020 by the troops sent by Abiy Ahmed to dislodge the executive of Tigray, who disputed his authority and whom he accused of having attacked military bases, the Tigrayan rebels took over almost all of the region already thanks to a counter-offensive which saw them approaching Addis Ababa.

They then retreated to Tigray, accusing the government of "besieging" the region, which the latter denies.

The international community has multiplied calls for dialogue in recent days.

Since June, the two parties have repeated that they are ready to negotiate, without ceasing to oppose each other on the terms of future discussions.

Despite the resumption of fighting, the government assured Wednesday "not to have ruled out the possibilities of peace" and the rebels assured the day before to remain "open to any negotiation".

The truce decided at the end of March had allowed the resumption of the delivery by road of humanitarian aid to Tigray, interrupted for three months and which now seems again threatened.

The toll of this deadly war is unknown.

But it has displaced more than two million people and plunged hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians into near-famine conditions, according to the UN.

Tigray has also been deprived of electricity, telecommunications, banking services and fuel for more than a year.

With AFP

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