On Friday, rebellious Tigrayan forces threatened to ‘hunt down’ foreigners that they claimed were working as mercenaries and technical experts for the Ethiopian government during the year-long conflict.
Getachew Reda, a spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said the foreigners could be from Turkey, China, Israel or the United Arab Emirates.
Legesse Tulu, a government spokesperson, did not respond to a request for comment. To date, there have been no independently verified reports of the warring parties employing mercenaries.
Getachew told Reuters that, ‘We don’t mind what their nationality is. We will track them down. They will be treated as the mercenaries that they are.’
The war has killed thousands and displaced more than two million people. This month, the conflict erupted after rebel forces from Tigray’s northern region and their allies made territorial gains and threatened to march on the capital. According to the government, the gains have been exaggerated.
On November 2nd , the government declared a state of emergency.
The warring parties – the Ethiopian government and the rebellious Tigrayan forces – have so far rejected calls for a ceasefire from the United States, the United Nations and the African Union. Both parties have established conditions that the other party rejects.
Recently, the United Nations has issued a famine warning for over 400,000 people in Tigray.
The United Nations said on Thursday that no humanitarian supplies that were organised by the UN have entered Tigray in more than three weeks, and that 364 trucks were awaiting authorization to proceed in a neighbouring region.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 100 trucks per day must enter Tigray to meet critical humanitarian needs. According to the report, approximately 80 percent of essential medicines are no longer available in Tigray and majority of health facilities are no longer operational.
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