The Ethiopian authorities announced today, Tuesday, that a United Nations team, which was visiting the rebel Tigray region in the north of the country, came under fire after penetrating two checkpoints there.
In a press statement, Radwan Hussain, a spokesperson for the Ethiopian government task force on the Tigrayan crisis, said that the United Nations (UN) team penetrated two checkpoints to hurriedly drive to areas they were not supposed to enter and when they were about to penetrate the third point, they were shot and detained.
Two diplomatic sources said that a UN security team was seeking to reach the Shimilpa refugee camp, one of four Eritrean refugee camps on Tigray lands that was intercepted after it was shot last Sunday.
At the end of last month, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, announced the end of the military operations in the troubled Tigray region and restoring the control of federal forces over Mekele, the provincial capital, after battles that lasted about 3 weeks against the rebels from the Tigray People's Liberation Front.
On the other hand, the United Nations announced earlier that it had reached an agreement with the Ethiopian government to allow humanitarian aid to enter government-controlled areas in Tigray.
Ethiopia confirmed today, Tuesday, that there are still fighters from the rebel northern Tigray region, "who have not been defeated" after the government announced the end of its military operation in the region.
Radwan Hussein added, in statements to reporters, that there are few remnants of the militia or Special Forces of the former regional government in Tigray region, which have not been controlled yet."
Hussain noted that "sporadic firing" is still occurring in Tigray, noting that this is not uncommon in the region.
The month-long fighting between the federal army and TPLF fighters is believed to have killed thousands of people, while some 50,000 refugees fled to neighboring Sudan.
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