This archive report was first published on 17 July 2021.
July 17, 2021
Clashes between Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) and Amhara militia have escalated in Ethiopia, with both sides accusing each other of using child soldiers.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, alleged that the TDF had deployed children, while Getachew Reda, senior advisor to the leader of Tigray People's Liberation Front Debretsion Gebremichael, accused the Amhara militia of attacking children.
Reda tweeted, 'I am in Alamata now after the routing of Abiy Ahmed and Agegnehu Teshager's child-killing armies.' The clashes came as Prime Minister Abiy vowed to 'repel' any fresh offensives, saying 'the government will do whatever is necessary to defend these attacks being carried out by our internal and external enemies.'
However, it is unclear which external enemies he was referring to, with Egypt and Sudan seen as potential threats to security over Ethiopia's controversial Grand Renaissance Dam.
PM Abiy made the statement one day after the Tigray Defence Forces took control of Korem, Alamata cities and the entire Raya zone in southern Tigray bordering the Amhara region.
Two weeks after Abiy declared a unilateral ceasefire, the new fighting looks like pitting regional militias against Tigray. Amhara militia, who had allied with the Ethiopia National Defence Forces had helped beat back Tigray earlier in the year, taking up territory.
But the group also represents an age-old conflict between Tigray and Amhara, going as far back to the last century based on imperial rivalry.
