Timeline of the Tigray war
In 2018, Ethiopia's ruling coalition(EPRDF), which includes TPLF among four other parties, elected Abiy Ahmed as its new chairman, filling the gap that had been left when Hailemariam Desalegn of the SEPDM announced his resignation.
[5] From June to November 2020, in Ullega tabiya (municipality) in the Chercher woreda of Raya Azebo, TPLF Liyou Hail special military forces camped in the main primary school in Kebele and dug trenches in preparation for possible conflict, according to residents interviewed by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
[19] Several people were said to have been killed in the attack, including destroyed properties, while others sustained injuries, and according to the Ethiopian government, the military base was looted of light and heavy weapons.
[15] Subsequently, Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, declared a military offensive that would be launched to restore the rule of law and central government authority.
[15][22][23] Following the shutdown of telephone and internet services in Tigray, Amnesty International urged the Ethiopian authorities to quickly restore communications so as to respect people's rights to freedom of expression.
[25] On 5 November 2020, Debretsion Gebremichael, Chief Administrator of the Tigray Region, claimed that Tigrayan forces seized most of the weapons at the Ethiopian Military's Northern Command headquarters.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reported in January 2021 that fighting in Dansha during the first half of November caused the death of around 25 civilians who were caught in the crossfire between warring parties.
[29][30] Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front of "criminal hubris and intransigence", claiming they rejected the federal government's efforts at "mediation, reconciliation, dialogue".
[32][33] The declaration was made by the House of Federation, one of the Ethiopian parliamentary chambers,[34] Separately, 10 officials in the capital were detained over allegations of terrorism, the mayor of Addis Ababa, Adanech Abebe, announced.
[35] On 8 November 2020, as the Ethiopian military's offensive in the northern Tigray region entered its fifth day, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the replacement of several high-ranking officials within his government.
As the military resumed new rounds of airstrikes, Abiy's head of intelligence, army chief and foreign minister were replaced and included a new federal police commissioner being appointed.
[44] That night, 600 civilians, mostly ethnic Amharas in Welkait, were killed in a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra using machetes and knives by local militias and police loyal to the TPLF, according to preliminary investigations by Amnesty International and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission.
[50] Tigray Region President, Debretsion Gebremichael reported that the Eritrean Army had launched attacks on the northern border, which was labeled as "false information" by Major General Mohammed Tessema.
[57][58][59] On 13 November, the Ethiopian Parliament appointed the Minister of Education Mulu Nega to replace Debretsion Gebremichael as the president of the Tigray Region, although rejected by the TPLF.
[76] In early December, it appeared that indeed, the offensive of joint ENDF-Amhara-Eritrean forces into Tigray had been facilitated by the intervention of "Pterosaurus" drones, launched by the United Arab Emirates from its base in Assab (Eritrea).
[77][78] Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed posted on social media that Ethiopian armed forces were about to launch a "final and crucial" offensive after a "three-day deadline" for the Tigray authorities to surrender had expired.
There were conflicting reports of the status of Axum, with both sides claiming to control the historic town,[89] while thousands more people fled into Sudan from the Tigray Region, according to international aid workers.
The Ethiopian government denied this and claimed that many Tigrayan fighters surrendered, as the 72-hour ultimatum previously issued by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed approached its end and a military build-up was growing around the region's capital, Mekelle.
[81][failed verification] Both Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Chief of General Staff Birhanu Jula Gelalcha confirmed that Mekelle had fully come under the control of the ENDF.
[119] Two diplomats based in Addis Ababa told Agence France-Presse that the explosions were caused by rockets, which apparently struck Asmara International Airport and Eritrean military facilities.
"[159] U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet said the United Nations had received reports of fighting going on near Mekelle, Sheraro, Axum, Abiy Addi and the areas straddling the border between the Amhara and Tigray Region.
[185] According to the Sudanese military's statement, the attack occurred on Tuesday, upon the return of their forces from a patrol along the Abu Tyour area in the al-Qadarif province which borders Ethiopia.
It was also reported that Egypt attempted to persuade Sudan to assist the TPLF, forcing a weakened Abiy to yield to concessions over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
[201] The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, spoke after the conclusion of a meeting of the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) that Ethiopia took "legitimate" military action in its Tigray region to preserve the country's unity and stability.
[202] In another development Michelle Bachelet called on Ethiopia to grant access to humanitarian organizations for investigating war crimes, adding the communications blockade made the situation more severe and both sides have been reported to indulge in abuses.
[204] Getachew Reda said on Twitter that the Ethiopian government's forces were being pushed back in Medebay Zana, while having lost hundreds of soldiers in Naeder Adet and Asgede Tsimbla.
[208] Laetitia Bader, the Human Rights Watch director for Horn of Africa region, described in an interview about witnesses from western Tigray telling them of heavy shelling or gunfire in the initial period of the conflict, particularly in Humera.
Refugees told the outlet that Fano militias and the ENDF were stopping them from coming through main border posts, forcing them to take more dangerous paths to Sudan, like through Eritrea.
Sudanese military sources told Vice News that they had taken advantage of Ethiopian forces vacating areas in the disputed border region due to the conflict, by sending their own troops there.
[219] The deputy chief of staff of the Sudanese Army, Khaled Abdin al-Shami, told Anadolu Agency that they had recaptured a border area in the al-Fashqa region, two decades after they lost it.
