Three Ethiopian opposition parties have claimed that at least 52,000 people have died in northern Tigray since the start of a conflict in November.
Another 3 million have been forced to flee their homes and are even more dependent on food aid, said the Tigray Independence Party, the Great Tigray National Congress and Salsay Weyane Tigray on Tuesday in a joint statement.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed issued a statement after the allegation was published, saying the state’s enemies are spreading misinformation, but without specifically citing the opposition’s statement. The parties’ estimate of the death toll has not been independently verified.
Independece Tigray leader Girmay Berhe did not immediately answer the phone when he called for comment.
“Cities and towns were demolished by blind artillery bombings, our health and educational facilities were looted and destroyed,” the groups said in the e-mailed statement. They called on the Ethiopian government to end the war, start negotiations and guarantee access to humanitarian aid.
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Ethiopian federal troops began a raid on Tigray on November 4 and overthrew the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which opposed Abiy since he took power in April 2018. Although the government announced an end to hostilities on 28 November, the deposed leader of the region, Debretsion Gebremichael, he vowed to keep fighting.
Neither federal authorities nor the TPLF have released the death toll since the fighting began.
Reports on civilian casualties are “unfounded and suffer from unfortunate political reasons,” the government-led Ethiopian State Emergency Check said in its Twitter account on Wednesday. Redwan Hussein, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Emergency Task Force, and Abiy’s spokesman, Billene Seyoum, did not immediately respond to text messages seeking comment.
“The number given to those in need of help is greater than the estimated population of Tigray, so it is likely that the number of civilian deaths will also be significantly inflated by all three parties,” said William Davison, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group.
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(Updates with government comments in the eighth paragraph)