NAIROBI, (Reuters) – Fighting between forces from Ethiopia’s rebellious northern region of Tigray and central government forces has erupted around the town of Kobo, residents and both sides said yesterday, ending a months-long ceasefire.
The fighting is a major blow to hopes for peace talks between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray.
Each side blamed the other for the outbreak of fighting.
“At 5am today (the TPLF) has attacked on the Eastern Front; from Bisober, Zobel and Tekulshe direction … it has effectively broken the ceasefire,” the government’s communications service said in a statement.
A day earlier, as social media lit up with allegations of troops on the move, the military accused the Tigrayan forces of preparing to attack and cover their tracks by spreading fake news of military movements.
“It has become an open secret that they (the TPLF) are campaigning to incriminate our army,” said the statement, accusing the TPLF of mounting “pre-conflict propaganda”.
In turn, the military command of the Tigrayan forces accused the government of violating the ceasefire, saying in a statement it believed the attack near Kobo, to the south of Tigray, was a diversion and its forces expected a major attack from the west.
TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael, in his own statement to the international community, said, “The peace process is being set up to fail” and accused the government of trying to block investigations into war crimes, withhold key services and blockade the region.
