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Northern Command attacks (Ethiopia)
On 3–4 November 2020, forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) launched attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle and bases in Adigrat, Agula, Dansha, and Sero in the Tigray Region, marking the beginning of the Tigray War. The Ethiopian federal government stated that these attacks justified the ENDF's military action against the TPLF, which, at the time the attacks occurred, held control over the Tigray Region. The TPLF described the action as "a pre-emptive strike."
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.
Mohammed Tessema of the ENDF stated in early December 2020 that 1000 senior commanders had been taken prisoner by TPLF forces on the evening of 3 November (or 4 November, according to Daily Nation) after being "invited to a dinner party" by the TPLF. 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.
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.
A shooting battle started at 01:00 EAT 4 November, at a distance of 50 metres between the two sides. Bulcha claimed that there were 32 ENDF fatalities and 100 TPLF fatalities. The battle ended when ENDF commanders ordered their soldiers to return their weapons to the storeroom. Priests and town elders negotiated a surrender, which took place at 16:00, with the ENDF soldiers rendering their arms to the TPLF.
The ENDF soldiers were taken to a TPLF base at Abiy Addi, 150 kilometres to the south-west, where they were held for two weeks and provided with tea, bread and not much water. Bulcha and his colleagues' personal valuables were confiscated. After negotiating the burning of their uniforms to avoid them being re-used by the TPLF, the ENDF soldiers were transported in trucks, each carrying 500 soldiers, to the border between Tigray Region and Amhara Region at the Tekezé River, which they crossed by boat. The soldiers walked 16 hours to Soqota where they were lodged at a police compound and the wounded hospitalised.
An ENDF soldier at a different ENDF base near Adigrat, also interviewed by BBC News, was on guard duty from 22:00 to 24:00 EAT 3 November. He heard gunshots after finishing his guard duty. TPLF special forces and militias entered the camp, ordering the ENDF soldiers to surrender. The ENDF soldiers surrendered after being ordered to by their senior officers, Tigrayans. The ENDF soldiers were transported to Idaga Hamus on 6 November, kept there for a week, and taken to Abiy Addi, where they were kept for three weeks in small rooms with "very crammed conditions". The witness was allowed to leave and transported with others to the Amhara Region border at Tekezé River on trucks, after which they crossed the river and go to Soqota. He described the truck journey as "very difficult", during which some of the soldiers fell off the trucks and broke their legs.
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Northern Command attacks (Ethiopia)
On 3–4 November 2020, forces loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) launched attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle and bases in Adigrat, Agula, Dansha, and Sero in the Tigray Region, marking the beginning of the Tigray War. The Ethiopian federal government stated that these attacks justified the ENDF's military action against the TPLF, which, at the time the attacks occurred, held control over the Tigray Region. The TPLF described the action as "a pre-emptive strike."
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.
Mohammed Tessema of the ENDF stated in early December 2020 that 1000 senior commanders had been taken prisoner by TPLF forces on the evening of 3 November (or 4 November, according to Daily Nation) after being "invited to a dinner party" by the TPLF. 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.
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.
A shooting battle started at 01:00 EAT 4 November, at a distance of 50 metres between the two sides. Bulcha claimed that there were 32 ENDF fatalities and 100 TPLF fatalities. The battle ended when ENDF commanders ordered their soldiers to return their weapons to the storeroom. Priests and town elders negotiated a surrender, which took place at 16:00, with the ENDF soldiers rendering their arms to the TPLF.
The ENDF soldiers were taken to a TPLF base at Abiy Addi, 150 kilometres to the south-west, where they were held for two weeks and provided with tea, bread and not much water. Bulcha and his colleagues' personal valuables were confiscated. After negotiating the burning of their uniforms to avoid them being re-used by the TPLF, the ENDF soldiers were transported in trucks, each carrying 500 soldiers, to the border between Tigray Region and Amhara Region at the Tekezé River, which they crossed by boat. The soldiers walked 16 hours to Soqota where they were lodged at a police compound and the wounded hospitalised.
An ENDF soldier at a different ENDF base near Adigrat, also interviewed by BBC News, was on guard duty from 22:00 to 24:00 EAT 3 November. He heard gunshots after finishing his guard duty. TPLF special forces and militias entered the camp, ordering the ENDF soldiers to surrender. The ENDF soldiers surrendered after being ordered to by their senior officers, Tigrayans. The ENDF soldiers were transported to Idaga Hamus on 6 November, kept there for a week, and taken to Abiy Addi, where they were kept for three weeks in small rooms with "very crammed conditions". The witness was allowed to leave and transported with others to the Amhara Region border at Tekezé River on trucks, after which they crossed the river and go to Soqota. He described the truck journey as "very difficult", during which some of the soldiers fell off the trucks and broke their legs.