The Afar regional government in Ethiopia is accusing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a regional political party with 250,000 well-armed fighters in Tigray region, of launching a cross border attack and shelling targeting civilians.
Afar Communication Bureau on Wednesday announced that the TPLF forces crossed into the region and occupied six villages after directing mortar shelling and ZU-23 on civilians.
“The Gujile (reference to TPLF) that never learns from its mistake today entered the Afar region by force” the region’s communication bureau said in a statement it shared on social mediaon Wednesday.
It further stated that on 5th November, the “TPLF clique crossed into the Afar region, specifically Zone Two, Magale Woreda, Tonsa Kebele, in the areas of War’a and Milki, and around 7:00 PM opened heavy weapon fire on innocent Afar pastoralists, thereby openly violating the Pretoria Agreement by a declaration of conflict.”
Like Tigray and Amhara, the Afar region was heavily devastated by the TPLF military operation during the 2020-2022 war which is believed to have claimed over 600,000 lives.
According to information reaching APA, the military operation by TPLF is also against the federal government-backed Tigray Peace Force (TPF) which broke away from “Tigray Defense Force” and a military alliance with the Eritrean government.
The region vowed that “it has a duty to defend its boundary, any external attack” and “protect the security of citizens.”
The TPLF has reportedly deployed heavy weaponry. TPF, which has been operating from within the Afar region for many months, is said to have suffered losses.
TPLF has not yet commented on the allegation of conducting a military operation in the Afar region.
Last week, it accused the federal government of “preparing for war” and “violating the Pretoria Agreement”.
When the Defense Force commemorated the 5th anniversary of TPLF’s attack on the Northern Command of the Ethiopian Defense Force this week, Chief of Staff Field Marshal Berhanu Jula accused the Tigray force of war mongering and threatening the Pretoria agreement that ended the two-year conflict in November 2022.
MG/as/APA