Name: Ethiopia Tigray crisis: Government forces 'march on capital' - BBC News
Uploaded: 2020-11-18T19:20:49.000Z
Duration: 9 min 23 s
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N is warning that a full scale humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Ethiopia, where a two week conflict in Tigre is threatening to descend into civil war.

Up to 30,000 people have fled a government offensive by Ethiopian forces against Tigres.

The government has rejected calls for mediation and had this message earlier.

They wouldn't they wouldn't space, they wouldn't they wouldn't hesitate to strike anybody around, eh?

So that they can create havoc and hysteria in Ethiopia and that would result in civil war.

So that's why the government had to us to destroy their armaments which have been discovered.

It's almost impossible to verify any information from Tigre.

Virtually all communications are blocked thes air, the latest pictures we have from the region.

It's said to show celebrations by federal troops arriving into the town of riot Kalamata.

Earlier, Prime Minister Abiomed warned that a three day deadline for local forces to surrender has now lapsed.

He posted this message on Facebook, threatening final enforcement action in the coming days.

In the past few hours, he said, his troops are marching on the regional capital Michael, which is held by the TPLF and he's claiming significant victories.

Five million people live in Tigre and aid agencies warn they're unable to reach those who need help because of the deteriorating security situation.

Here's the UNHCR's assessment of what it's hearing about the situation in Tigre.

We're needing desperately to have access unhindered, unconditional access to the refugees, but also the other 600,000 among the population of Ethiopians who depend on a humanitarian assistance.

We also need access to bring in supplies fewer very little food in the market.

Cash is non existent because the banks have been closed for weeks now and so it's really a dire humanitarian situation that we're facing that we haven't seen for over two decades in this part of the country.

Well, this is playing out across Ethiopia's border.

N estimates 4000 refugees are crossing into Suzanne every day and we're told half of them are Children.

We're told many arriving here are hungry and exhausted from the heat.

On this is the Um Recoba camp, which once housed refugees during Ethiopia's famine in the eighties.

It's been closed since the two thousands, but it's now reopened to cope with the influx.

Here's another UNHCR spokesperson, Dana Hughes, assessing the situation in Sudan because this is an area that hasn't seen displacement.

As I said in well over a decade, almost two.

This is an area where we had a reception center for about 300 people and now it's trying to, you know, keep track of at least and help about 15,000 people.

With more people coming, we have taken immediate steps, working with the Sudanese government to try and and provide assistance.

We've identified a site about 80 kilometers away from the border that we're trying Teoh a t least set up a settlement or a camp someplace where people can go so we can give them immediate assistance.

Well, the refugees from Tiger I are also reporting horrific accounts of the violence in the region, including street shootings and machete killings.

Here's Donahues again I think that this happened so quickly that the refugees that were talking to their stunned there's a woman that we interviewed and she talked about how less than a week ago her life was fairly normal and for five days she's been searching for her husband.

She had to grab her Children and people just ran.

They ran with really nothing more than than what was on their backs.

So I think at this point what people are hoping for is peace and and to be safe and to be secure well, Beverly coaching is our sub Saharan security analyst in Nairobi.

How reliable is the information we're guessing from?

What more do we know about what's going on there?

Well, the latest appears to be that Ethiopian forces have been able to make victories in eastern and Western Tegra and are advancing towards Mecca Lee.

Yesterday, diplomatic sources said that there had been bombings in the capital medically, but then Ethiopia has denied this in another statement and said that it is making position strikes and there have been no civilian casualties.

But we can see thousands of people are fleeing the conflict and the kind of stories coming out from U.

Agencies and even those arriving in Sudan are quite terrifying.

It's you appear on its part, seems to be very keen to control the narrative of the conflict.

It started a new Twitter account, which issues daily updates.

It's called State of Emergency Fact, but it's difficult to corroborate or independently verify that information integrate officials have made use of the state TVs issue statements not so much updates from the front line, but from rhetoric on the potential impact of the crisis, both for Ethiopia and the region and also to issue threats.

But it doesn't seem as though they will be anything that will either focus on the humanitarian aspect of it, or it will just cover that up.

And most of what we're seeing is just a strong building.

Was a most violent country on what defense capabilities Beverly does this local force, the TPLF have?

So the Northern command, which sparked off the conflict after the TPLF attacked it, is said to be one of the most well equipped.

Of course, there's very little clarity on what is there, but it makes sense because the TPLF had been the governing force for many years, nearly 27 years.

But then tplf strategy is probably more off concern.

It's creating what seems to be a long, drawn out conflict.

When Prime Minister Abby announced the operation, he said that there would be limited aims.

But then the TPLF forces managed to fire into a smart over the weekend.

They also find the Amhara region, which shows the potential event brewing in tow, a bigger conflict and drawing in many acts.

Other, more people left leaders very experienced in warfare.

When you think about the retreat, if Europe your border war in 1998 to 2000 or even the 19 seventies, fighting against the dog and being able to coordinate that kind of power, so it is quite a strategic and experience threat.

But this, of course happen doesn't come out of the blue.

Tensions have been building for years between the federal government on the Tigre People's Liberation Front, which runs to cry that came to a head back in September when the government postponed national elections.

It held a vote anyway, that was declared illegal.

Now the TPLF sees the federal government is illegitimate, accusing Prime Minister A.

Ahmed of trying to extend his time in office on.

Here's the analysis of Calculon you belittle in Addis Ababa on what support he has in the initial phase.

Off his his tenure, he seemed to enjoy wide popularity.

But that appeared to have dwindled now and since, since this conflict broke out to be enjoying some popular support, at least for the military invasive.

For example, in the capital earlier today, there were calls by his administration to show support for the defense forces for the armed forces, and there was a lot off the clapping and shouting and screaming and singing.

People were expressing their their support well.

Last year, the prime minister, Abu Hamad, was celebrated worldwide when he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

When he accepted the award, he called War the epitome of hell.

The Financial Times tells us how this is playing out now.

The declaration of hostilities is likely to further undermine, if not destroy, his fading reputation as a leader who can unite Ethiopia under the banner off liberal democracy.

Let's go back to Beverly or Chen Beverly.

I mean, it seems as though his credentials are severely eroding.

And over the period where he's had tensions with the TPLF has been very strong rhetoric coming from him.

And right now he has rejected any calls for talks than many people expected.

That he would perhaps gave the way for talks.

He seemed like a reform is when he came into power.

But I because many of the changes that he was implementing, including to the political system and postponing the election it raised a lot of political tensions.

And in some ways, this conflict was giving into the kind of rhetoric that was brewing over all these months and perhaps a bit of a let down for many who felt that he was going to be a change.