The Ethiopian military has seized the airport near the town of Humera amid a nearly week-old conflict in the northern Tigray region.
The state media announcement on Tuesday about the capture of the airport, 67km (42 miles) south of Humera, came as fighting continued with reports of Ethiopian government forces capturing territory.“The Ethiopian National Defense Force has fully captured Humera Airport amid [a] continuation of [the] government’s military response against TPLF rebel group,” Fana TV reported, referring to the organisation that leads the government in the Tigray region.
Humera is located in the far northwest of the country near Ethiopia’s borders with Sudan and Eritrea.
A telephone and internet communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify the situation on the ground.
The African Union on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire.
“The chairperson [Moussa Faki Mahamat] appeals for the immediate cessation of hostilities and calls on parties to respect human rights and ensure the protection of civilians,” the AU bloc said in a statement, also urging talks.The leader of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, meanwhile, accused Eritrea of sending soldiers over the border to attack local forces.
In a statement on local TV, Debretsion Gebremichael gave no evidence for what would be a major escalation.
“Since yesterday, the army of [Eritrean leader] Isaias [Afwerki] have crossed the country’s boundary and invaded,” he said. “They were attacking via Humera using heavy arms.”
Eritrea’s government the accusation. “This is an internal conflict, we are not part of the conflict,” Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed said.
Thousands of Ethiopians fleeing conflict in the northern Tigray region have crossed west into neighbouring Sudan, a government official said on Tuesday.
Among those streaming across the border were several Ethiopian soldiers, said Alsir Khaled, head of Sudan's refugee agency in the eastern border town of Kassala.
“Refugees are pouring in, and the situation is changing by the hour,” said Khaled.
At least 2,500 refugees were counted in the past two days, but hundreds of more civilians arriving were yet to be processed by authorities, he added.
Around 30 Ethiopian soldiers who also fled “handed themselves over at a Sudanese military checkpoint”, Khaled added.
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops and air force jets into Tigray last week in a campaign against the regional ruling government.
Much of the fighting has reportedly been concentrated in western Tigray, near the border of Sudan and Eritrea.
One eyewitness told AFP that families with young children were struggling to cross a river to reach Sudan.
“Women and children have been trying to cross,” said the witness, who asked not to be named.
UN refugee agency spokesperson Babar Baloch said there were “more than several hundred asylum seekers” at two border entry points in Sudan's Gedaref state.
UNHCR was “mobilising resources to provide life-saving assistance,” Baloch said.
“The arrivals are being screened by the authorities and will be relocated from the border points to the existing reception centre in Shagrab camp in Kassala state,” Baloch said.
Ethiopia's Abiy on Tuesday signalled that the end of military operations was “coming within reach”, as the African Union called for an immediate cessation of the fighting.
But that has not stopped the flow of refugees.
Khaled said Sudanese efforts to help the refugees were stretched, and that they were awaiting support from international refugee agencies.of anyone’
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said he is not ignoring international calls for calm over the escalating conflict that many fear is sliding towards civil war.
The violence in the northern area bordering Eritrea and Sudan threatens to destabilise Africa’s second-most populous country. Ethnic conflict in the region has simmered since Abiy took over in 2018.
“There is no rebuffing of anyone by the prime minister. He had acknowledged and given gratitude for the concerns shown,” Abiy’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum said in response to a request for comment on a diplomat’s assertion that Abiy was “not listening to anyone”.
“Nevertheless, Ethiopia is a sovereign nation and its government will ultimately make decisions in the long-term interest of the country and its people.”
The United Nations also has pressed Abiy – a former soldier who once fought alongside Tigrayans against Eritrea – to start a dialogue.
Hundreds killed
Abiy, the continent’s youngest leader at 44, won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for democratic reforms and for making peace with Eritrea.
But last week, the prime minister, who is from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group the Oromo, launched a campaign against forces loyal to ethnic Tigrayan leaders in the northern region. He accused them of attacking a military base.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the latest conflict, sources on the government’s side said on Monday. But Abiy said fears of chaos were unfounded.
