Will the Ethiopian conflict affect UAE-Egyptian relations?
As the conflict escalates between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray region, the United Arab Emirates' support for the Ethiopian regime threatens to strain Emirati-Egyptian relations.
CAIRO — As Ethiopia teeters on the brink of civil war, the Ethiopian army threatened on Nov. 22 to send tanks to Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region. It warned civilians that it could bomb the city, inhabited by 500,000 people.
“The next phases are the decisive part of the operation, which is to encircle Mekelle using tanks, ending the battle in the mountainous areas and advancing toward the fields,” military spokesperson Col. Dejene Tsegaye told the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Ethiopian army seized the city of Adigrat, one of the largest cities in the region, and the towns of Axum and Adwa on Nov. 20. The fighting killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands into neighboring Sudan.
On Nov. 24, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said over 600 people were killed Nov. 9 in Mai Kadra, a town in the Tigray region, by armed gangs linked Ethiopia. The commission’s report found that youth groups known as Samri — in coordination with a local militia and police forces — “carr[ied] out door-to-door raids and kill[ed] hundreds of people” based on ethnicity.
