Northern Command attacks (Ethiopia)

The attacks took place in the context of major political changes in Ethiopia during 2018–2020, in which the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) lost control of federal Ethiopian institutions, while retaining power in the Tigray Region and resisting federal control. On 29 October 2020, the TPLF rejected the federal government's appointment of new leadership for the ENDF's Northern Command. On 2 November 2020, Debretsion Gebremichael, head of the TPLF and Tigray Region, stated in a press conference that the ENDF planned to attack the Tigray Region. In its 9 December 2020 statement, the ENDF said that it had freed the 1000 commanders, who had been held at Adet. On 13 December, the ENDF issued arrest warrants for Major General Tsadkan Gebretensae, Colonel Berhe WoldeMichael and Commissioner Yehdego Seyoum, stating that Berhe and Yehdego were responsible for the dinner-party detention of the senior commanders. ==Attacks on bases==

Adigrat BBC News interviewed an ENDF sergeant, Bulcha, about the attack on an ENDF base near Adigrat. The base was surrounded by hundreds of TPLF special forces and militias, including Tigrayan soldiers from the camp who had defected to the TPLF, after 23:30 EAT 3 November. Bulcha together with other soldiers requested a colonel to unlock a storeroom with the soldiers' weapons. The colonel refused. Bulcha suspected that the colonel, an ethnic Tigrayan, refused on behalf of the TPLF. The soldiers eventually obtained their weapons, by which time TPLF forces had started shooting. Sero ENDF soldiers Takele Ambaye and Molla Kassa stated that the Sero base near the Eritrean border was attacked at 05:00 EAT on 4 November. According to the two soldiers' report, the ENDF forces shot at the attackers, initially succeeding in defending their base. The base was sieged by TPLF forces. ENDF soldiers rationed their food supplies, which lasted for eight days. On the tenth day of the siege, a six-hour battle took place, with the TPLF using tanks, anti-aircraft guns and mortars. The ENDF soldiers surrendered. ==Extrajudicial executions==

In a statement made late in December 2020, Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed stated that extrajudicial executions had occurred during the attacks. He stated that the "TPLF identified and separated hundreds of unarmed Ethiopian soldiers of non-Tigrayan origin, tied their hands and feet together, massacred them in cold blood, and left their bodies lying in open air." Abiy suggested that the TPLF forces had "record[ed] themselves singing and dancing on the bodies of their victims." ==TPLF statements==

Early on, the TPLF gave conflicting statements about the nature of the attacks. The TPLF described the November attacks as a pre-emptive strike since it expected to be attacked by the ENDF. Head of the Tigrayan government, Debretsion Gebremichael, stated to Reuters, "We didn't initiate any attack." He said that some soldiers "joined us by rejecting [the] federal treatment to Tigray." Wondimu Asamew of the TPLF stated, "There was no attack" and that the story of the attacks was a fictional pretext for attacking TPLF forces. described the attacks as "pre-emptive", an "internationally known practice" In March 2022, TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda stated that the war had started when the TPLF "undertook a preemptive operation to disarm and neutralize the Northern Command." ==Reactions==

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Tibor Nagy expressed "grave concern" about the attacks "by the Tigray People's Liberation Front, TPLF, on Ethiopian National Defense Force bases in the Tigray region". == Notes ==