Two airstrikes hit the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region, Mekele

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According to local health workers the death toll could climb as more patients were reaching the hospital.On Tuesday morning, a drone strike hit a university campus in Mekele, causing an unknown number of injuries.Tigray rebels have accused the government of carrying out fresh drone attacks in the regional capital, Mekelle, two days after they said they were ready for an immediate ceasefire.

It’s close to three weeks since violence flared up again after a five-month truce. A senior Tigrayan official, Getachew Reda, tweeted on Tuesday that the target of the drone strikes was a university campus. There is no independent confirmation of the claim due to an ongoing communications blackout.

Getachew, along with a senior general, Tsadkan Gebretensay, has been appointed by the Tigrayan forces for negotiations with the government. Although Addis Ababa had previously set up a seven-member team to negotiate on behalf of the government, it has not officially responded to the latest statements by the Tigrayans that they would accept the African Union mediation efforts.

The AU, the UN, and the US welcomed the announcement by the Tigrayan forces. In a weekend statement to mark the beginning of Ethiopia’s new year, the Tigray leadership said they were ready to participate in an “immediate” cessation of hostilities leading to a comprehensive ceasefire. But Ethiopia’s federal government is yet to publicly respond amid reports of more talks between the two sides in Djibouti.

Several airstrikes have hit Mekele since fighting resumed between Tigray forces and Ethiopia’s government in late August, shattering a period of relative calm since late March. That calm had allowed more humanitarian aid to reach Tigray but those deliveries were halted, according to the United Nations. Deliveries to conflict-affected parts of the neighboring Amhara region also stopped.Since the conflict broke out in November 2020, tens of thousands were believed to have been killed and millions displaced in the Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions

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