Three Ethiopian opposition parties have claimed that at least 52,000 people have died in the northern Tigray region since a conflict broke out in November.
An additional 3 million have been forced to flee their homes and are even more dependent on food aid, the Tigray Independence Party, Grand Tigray National Congress and Salsay Weyane Tigray said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed issued a statement after publishing the claim, saying the enemies of the state are spreading misinformation, but without specifically citing the opposition’s statement. The parties’ estimate of the number of deaths has not been independently verified.
Tigray Independece party leader Girmay Berhe did not immediately answer his phone when he was called for comment.
“Cities and towns have been demolished by blind artillery bombardments, our health and educational facilities have been looted and destroyed,” the groups said in the statement sent by email. They called on the Ethiopian government to end the war, start negotiations and secure access to humanitarian aid.
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Ethiopian federal troops launched a raid on Tigray on November 4 and overthrew the ruling Liberation Front of the Tigray Liberation Front, which had opposed Abiy since he came to power in April 2018. Although the government announced an end to hostilities on 28 November. , the ousted leader of the region, Debretsion Gebremichael, has done so he promised to keep fighting.
Neither the federal authorities nor the TPLF have given a death toll since the fighting began.
Reports of civilian casualties are “unfounded and suffer from unfortunate political motives,” the government-administered state-run Ethiopian state of emergency data control said on Wednesday. Redwan Hussein, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Emergency Task Force, and Abiy’s spokeswoman Billene Seyoum did not immediately respond to text messages requesting comments.
“The figure given for those in need of help is higher than Tigray’s estimated population, so the three sides are likely to also significantly inflate the number of civilian casualties,” said William Davison, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.
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(Updates with government comments in the eighth paragraph)