Ethiopia’s Tigrayan rebels said they had been provoked into launching operations into Afar, a month after announcing a withdrawal from neighbouring regions in the country’s north.

The move comes 14 months since fighting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government forces broke out.

“Since yesterday morning [January 24], we have been compelled to take robust actions to neutralise the threat,“ the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) said on Tuesday as it referred to pro-government forces in the Afar region, AFP reported.

“Tigray’s army does not have a plan to remain in Afar for long, nor does it wish to see the conflict deteriorate further.”

The UN said at least 108 civilians were killed this month in air strikes in Tigray and gave a warning of a looming humanitarian disaster.

“We are alarmed by the multiple, deeply disturbing reports we continue to receive of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian objects resulting from air strikes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva.

“My appeal to the parties: stop the fighting in all its forms,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter. “All people who need humanitarian aid must receive it as quickly as possible. It is time to start dialogue and reconciliation.”

Source: The National News