Authorities say Ethiopia will not accept the pressure to open a corridor between Sudan and Tigray region of Ethiopia.
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Ethiopia on Tuesday rejected what it called a pressure to open a corridor from West of Tigray to Sudan. The pressure is manifesting itself under the guise of delivering humanitarian assistance to the Tigray region.
Mitiku Kassa, Commissioner for Disaster Prevention and Preparedness, said the pressure from the west and some of their institutions to open a corridor between Tigray and Sudan is unacceptable, as reported by Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporate (EBC).
Furthermore, he said that humanitarian aid supplies are being delivered from Afar region of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian government is doing all it can to ensure that aid is delivered to people in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
About 170 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid were stuck in the Afar region after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) opened a new military offensive, rejecting unilateral humanitarian aid which the Ethiopian government declared at the end of June 2021.
Without naming names, Mr. Mitiku disclosed that some western countries have requested the Ethiopian government for the humanitarian aid to be delivered directly from Sudan.
He also said that the Ethiopian government has made it clear to them that no corridor will be open from Sudan and that the Djibouti-Afar-Tigray supply route is adequate to address the humanitarian assistance.
In an interview with BBC News Hours, Tsadkan Gebretensae, one of the TPLF military commanders, said that TPLF will continue the war in the Afar region to control the route to Djibouti.
In early July, TPLF reportedly destroyed the Tekeze bridge that was also used to supply humanitarian aid to the region.
Western Powers’ pressure to open up a corridor between Sudan and Tigray region of Ethiopia has generated immense skepticism. Some see it as a plot to strengthen TPLF military posture.
Aregawi Berhe is one of the founders of TPLF, now the leader of Tigray Democratic Party, says the idea to create a corridor from Sudan is an arrangement by the TPLF terrorist group, as he calls it, to benefit itself.
“The TPLF has exploited the corridor to Sudan during the war with Derg,” Mr. Aregawi recalled.
In what seems to be a preparation to push for the opening of a corridor to Sudan, the TPLF, and its supporters, launched a social media campaign claiming the Humera Massacre. It came after the Associated Press and Reuters published a story about bodies floating on Tekeze river from Sudan’s side near Kassala.
There have been reports earlier that the TPLF was transporting dead bodies from Afar and Tegede battlefields, where it suffered crashing defeat, to the Tigray region.
Some, who are expressing their views on social media platforms, say the bodies found in Kassala are probably casualties from latest battles between TPLF on the one hand and the Ethiopian Defense Force and Afar region special forces.
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