Air strike on kindergarten in Ethiopia’s Tigray kills 4
- Unicef condemned the attack in Mekele that also killed two children and injured nine others
- It added the 21-month war in Ethiopia’s north had ‘caused children to pay the heaviest price’
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The UN children’s agency Unicef on Saturday condemned an air strike that “hit a kindergarten” in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, killing at least four people including two children.
Friday’s strike in the Tigray capital Mekele came days after fighting erupted on the region’s southern border between government forces and rebels, ending a five-month truce.
“Unicef strongly condemns the air strike … [that] hit a kindergarten, killing several children, and injuring others,” Unicef’s executive director Catherine Russell said on Twitter.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that controls the northern region said the air raid demolished a kindergarten and hit a civilian residential area, claims the government denied.
Addis Ababa said it only targeted military sites, and accused the TPLF of staging civilian deaths.
‘Large-scale’ fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray shatters 5-month lull
Kibrom Gebreselassie, chief clinical director at Mekele’s Ayder Referral Hospital, said that four people were killed in the strike, including two children.
Nine others were receiving treatment for injuries, he said.
Tigrai TV, a local network, said the death toll had reached seven and broadcast footage of mangled playground equipment at the apparent scene of the strike.
Russell said the 21-month war in Ethiopia’s north had “caused children to pay the heaviest price”.
“For almost two years, children and their families in the region have endured the agony of this conflict. It must end,” she said.
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What is behind the fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region?
In January, the UN said at least 108 civilians had been killed since the year began in a series of air strikes in Tigray, including on a refugee camp and a flour mill.
The UN human rights office warned at the time that disproportionate attacks against non-military targets could amount to war crimes.
A truce in March paused the worst of the bloodshed and allowed aid convoys to return slowly to Tigray, where the UN says millions are severely hungry, and fuel and medicine are in short supply.
But on Wednesday, the warring sides announced a return to the battlefield, with each accusing the other of firing first as fresh offensives erupted along Tigray’s southern border.
Details remain unclear, but it appears the fighting has not spread outside an area bordering Tigray, Amhara and Afar.
The return to combat has alarmed the international community, which has been pushing both sides to peacefully resolve the brutal 21-month war in Africa’s second most populous nation.
Since the end of June, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the rebels have repeatedly stated their willingness to enter peace negotiations, but disagreed on the terms of such talks.
In recent weeks, too, they have accused each other of preparing for a return to battle.
Addis Ababa wants talks without preconditions under the auspices of the African Union, which is headquartered in the Ethiopian capital.
The rebels are demanding that electricity, telecommunications and banking services be restored to Tigray before talks begin, and reject the AU’s envoy Olusegun Obasanjo as mediator, accusing him of a pro-government bias.
