Hundreds killed in Ethiopia as PM seeks to allay civil war fears

Conflict in the northern Tigray region bordering Eritrea and Sudan threatens to destabilise Africa’s second most populous nation

‘Concerns that Ethiopia will descend into chaos are unfounded’, said Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a former soldier, in a tweet on Monday

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A farmer and militia fighter pictured near the village of Tekeldengy in the Amhara region of Ethiopia on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Reutersin Dansha, Ethiopia

Published: 10:55pm, 9 Nov 2020Updated: 10:55pm, 9 Nov 2020

An escalating conflict in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region has killed hundreds of people, sources on the government’s side said, even as the prime minister sought on Monday to reassure the world his nation was not sliding into civil war.

The flare-up in the northern area bordering Eritrea and Sudan threatens to destabilise Africa’s second most populous nation where ethnic conflict has already killed hundreds since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took over in 2018.

Reuters reporters travelling in Tigray and the neighbouring Amhara region saw trucks packed with armed militia and pickups with machine guns mounted on the back rushing to the front line in support of the federal government push.

Some militia members waved the Ethiopian national flag.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed makes a statement via his official Facebook page on Sunday. Photo: Office of the Prime Minister – Press Secretariat via Reuters

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, from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, launched a campaign against forces loyal to Tigrayan leaders whom he accused of attacking a military base in the town of Dansha.