Tigrayan rebels on Saturday said that dozens of people had been killed in a drone strike on a camp for civilians displaced by the war in northern Ethiopia.
Reports of the attack emerged just a day after the government declared surprise pardons for a number of detained opposition leaders, including senior Tigrayan figures, in what it said was a move to foster national reconciliation.
The amnesty was welcomed by the international community as a possible way out of 14 months of brutal fighting between forces loyal to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Photo: AP
Friday’s announcement followed a dramatic shift on the battlefield, with the rebels retreating to their Tigray stronghold at the end of last month in the face of a military offensive that saw government forces retake a string of strategic towns.
Although there appeared to be a lull in fighting since then, the rebels have accused the government of continuing to conduct deadly drone attacks on Tigray.
TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda wrote on Twitter that an attack on a camp in the northwestern town of Dedebit “has claimed the lives of 56 innocent civilians so far.”
His claim could not be independently verified, with access to Tigray restricted and the region under a communications blackout.
There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Ethiopian officials.
However, a senior official at the main hospital in Tigray’s capital, Mekele, said that the hospital in the town of Shire where the victims were taken had reported 55 people dead and 126 injured.
The EU also briefly referred to the air strike in a statement, saying it had killed and wounded many civilians.
While Friday’s amnesty statement also spoke of national dialogue, it did not say if Abiy was considering any negotiations with the TPLF.
Abiy called for “national reconciliation” and “unity” in a message for Orthodox Christmas.
However, in another statement on Saturday he lashed out at “foreign and internal enemies” and described the TPLF as “snakes.”
It was not known if the TPLF stalwarts who had been granted amnesty — including one of its founders, Sibhat Nega, and former Tigray president Abay Woldu — had been released by Saturday.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’