This timeline of the Tigray War is part of a chronology of the military engagements of the Tigray War, a civil war that began in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia in early November 2020.
Pre-war preparations
Tigray In 2018, Ethiopia's ruling coalition(EPRDF), which includes TPLF among four other parties, elected Abiy Ahmed as its new chairman, filling the gap that had been left when Hailemariam Desalegn of the SEPDM announced his resignation. After being sidelined by Abiy, TPLF leaders retreated to their home region in northern Ethiopia.
Not only the TPLF, but even the Tigray branch of Abiy's own Prosperity Party expressed fears about an Eritrean invasion, already on 19 February 2020. On 17 June 2020, Debretsion Gebremichael, head of the TPLF, stated that the federal government was "threatening war" against the Tigray Region. From June to November 2020, in Ullega tabiya (municipality) in the Chercher woreda of Raya Azebo, TPLF Liyou Hail special military forces camped in the main primary school in Kebele and dug trenches in preparation for possible conflict, according to residents interviewed by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The TPLF stated that the aim was to provide a COVID-19 pandemic checkpoint. The EHRC visited the school and observed the trenches in early January 2021.
During 2020, the TPLF judged the economic and political changes in Ethiopia under Abiy's prime ministership to be "unacceptably threatening" to the control that the TPLF had enjoyed in Ethiopia for nearly three decades, and aimed to retain its de facto dominance and considerable autonomy in Ethiopian politics and its economy.
Anti-TPLF forces In the months before fighting erupted in November 2020, Mr. Abiy moved troops toward Tigray and sent military cargo planes into Eritrea. Behind closed doors, his advisers and military generals debated the merits of a conflict. Those who disagreed were fired, interrogated at gunpoint or forced to leave.
On 27 January 2020, Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki and Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmaajo) held a Tripartite Agreement meeting in Asmara. Martin Plaut suggested that the 27 January meeting, together with bilateral meetings by Abiy to an Eritrean military base in July 2020, Farmaajo to Asmara on 4 October 2020, and Isaias to the Harar Meda Airport Ethiopian air base in Bishoftu on 14–15 October 2020 were used by the three leaders to discuss and prepare a strategy for the Tigray War.
According to Mesfin Hagos, former Defence Minister of Eritrea from 1994 to 1995 and current political asylee in Germany, "in the run-up to the current conflict, a large number of Ethiopian elite units had slowly trickled into Eritrea as part of a security pact between Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki" and based in Gherghera
near Asmara. Mesfin stated that according to the plan, the Ethiopian units at Gherghera "were expected to be the hammer and the Northern Command the anvil to strike out of existence the TPLF."
TPLF blocks Northern command appointments On 29 October 2020, the TPLF rejected the federal government's appointment of new leadership for the ENDF's Northern Command. Three officers, Brig. Gen Belay Seyoum Akele, the new Commander of the Northern Command, and one of his deputies Brig. Gen. Seid Tekuye, as well as Lt. Gen. Molla Haile Mariam, were told by TPLF to cancel their flights to Mekelle. The other deputy commander, Brig. Gen. Jamal Mohammed, was turned away by the TPLF upon arrival in Mekelle. According to Getachew Reda, a senior official of the TPLF, the decision was made on the premise that Tigray would no longer recognize any decisions made by the federal government or any officials appointed by them.
Timeline
September 2020 In September the Tigrayans went ahead with a regional election, in open defiance of an order from Abiy. Abiy moved troops from the Somali and Oromia regions toward Tigray.
October 2020 In a video conference call in mid-October, Abiy told governing party officials that he would intervene militarily in Tigray, and that it would take only three to five days to oust the region's leaders, said Gebremeskel, a former senior official now in exile.
November 2020
2 November The European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles, publicly appealed to both sides to halt "provocative military deployments."
Debretsion Gebremichael stated to journalists that the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) planned and made preparations to attack Tigray Region.
3 November Late in the night of Tuesday, 3 November 2020, Tigray regional security forces, loyal to the ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) launched a surprise attack on the Northern Command of the ENDF in Mekelle, and other Northern Command bases in the Tigray region. A senior member of the TPLF, Sekoutoure Getachew, said that a pre-emptive strike had been carried out in self-defence. Several people were said to have been killed in the attack, including destroyed properties, while others sustained injuries, and according to the Ethiopian government, the military base was looted of light and heavy weapons.
4 November
Subsequently, Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, declared a military offensive that would be launched to restore the rule of law and central government authority. A state of emergency was declared in the region for the 6 months following this attack. Electricity, telephone and internet services in Tigray were shut down by federal authorities, though there were claims were made that the TPLF itself had shut them down. NetBlocks reported a subnational drop in Ethiopia of about 15% in internet connectivity at 01:00 East Africa Time. The Tigray Regional Administration threatened to retaliate to any form of attack, as they prohibited all aspects of transportation, including flights.
Following the shutdown of telephone and internet services in Tigray, Amnesty International urged the Ethiopian authorities to quickly restore communications so as to respect people's rights to freedom of expression. The UN also called for an urgent de-escalation of the growing conflict in the region.
5 November On 5 November 2020, Debretsion Gebremichael, Chief Administrator of the Tigray Region, claimed that Tigrayan forces seized most of the weapons at the Ethiopian Military's Northern Command headquarters. Debretsion also stated that many in the Northern Command had defected to the Tigrayan side, though this claim was rejected by the Ethiopian government as "false information", and that the Ethiopian Air Force was bombing areas near Mekelle, the capital of Tigray.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reported in January 2021 that fighting in Dansha during the first half of November caused the death of around 25 civilians who were caught in the crossfire between warring parties.
6 November On 6 November 2020, Abiy disclosed that his administration had launched an airstrike against the forces of the fortified Tigray region in several locations. According to Abiy's announcement, rockets and other weapons were destroyed but was later found out to be by rocket attacks on Gondar, Bahirdar and Asmara. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front of "criminal hubris and intransigence", claiming they rejected the federal government's efforts at "mediation, reconciliation, dialogue". Moreover, Sudan closed its border with Ethiopia and the United Nations called for immediate de-escalation of tensions and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
7 November
On 7 November 2020, the Ethiopian parliament voted to endorse the creation of an interim government for the northern Tigray region in order to avoid the outbreak of a civil war in the country, as the conflict intensified in the region. The Tigray government was declared to be illegal, during the emergency session held by the parliament. The declaration was made by the House of Federation, one of the Ethiopian parliamentary chambers, Separately, 10 officials in the capital were detained over allegations of terrorism, the mayor of Addis Ababa, Adanech Abebe, announced.
8 November On 8 November 2020, as the Ethiopian military's offensive in the northern Tigray region entered its fifth day, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the replacement of several high-ranking officials within his government. As the military resumed new rounds of airstrikes, Abiy's head of intelligence, army chief and foreign minister were replaced and included a new federal police commissioner being appointed. Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen filled the position of foreign minister, while deputy army chief Birhanu Jula was promoted to army chief of staff. The former Regional leader of Amhara, Temesgen Tiruneh, was appointed as the new head of intelligence. Abiy did not reveal his rationale behind making the changes to his administration's military and intelligence office. On Twitter, Abiy urged Ethiopians not to discriminate against Tigrayans in the face of worsening internal conflict.
9 November
On 9 November 2020, the leadership of the Tigray Region claimed that more than 10 airstrikes had been carried out against them by the Ethiopian federal government. Hundreds of people were believed to have died in the conflict, according to government sources. The Ethiopian army was also reported to have lost hundreds of its personnel in the battle of Dansha. That night, 600 civilians, mostly ethnic Amharas in Welkait, were killed in a massacre in the town of Mai Kadra using machetes and knives by local militias and police loyal to the TPLF, according to preliminary investigations by Amnesty International and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. Alternate accounts of the massacre have been presented by Tigrayan refugees interviewed by Reuters blaming Amhara militias for the massacres.
10 November On 10 November, Ethiopian federal forces seized parts of Tigray, including Humera Airport. Several Tigrayan troops were said to have surrendered to the Ethiopian military during the takeover of the airport. Tigray Region President, Debretsion Gebremichael reported that the Eritrean Army had launched attacks on the northern border, which was labeled as "false information" by Major General Mohammed Tessema. At least 2500 Ethiopians had reportedly fled from northern Tigray to neighboring Sudan. According to Alsir Khaled, the head of Sudan's refugee agency in eastern Kassala town, many Ethiopian soldiers were among the refugees who fled the country to Sudan.
Government-allied militias beat and killed seven children of one family in Shiglil (Western Tigray) between 4 and 10 November 2020.
11 November Refugees fleeing to Sudan increased significantly on 11 November 2020, with about 10,000 refugees having crossed the border since hostilities began. No further news regarding military advances from either side was reported on Wednesday.
12 November
Amnesty International reported massacres taking place in the Tigray Region. Amnesty provided preliminary information on the suspected perpetrators of the massacres. Witnesses blamed the Tigray People's Liberation Front for the "horrific tragedy" taking place in Mai Kadra. Airstrikes continued to hit the region hard after Abiy Ahmed blamed the TPLF of committing war crimes. A group of investigators were sent by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to Mai Kadra to investigate the mass killings.
The ENDF claimed in late November to have gained control of Humera on 12 November. Massacres of 20 ethnic Tigrayans in Humera were later reported by refugees who had fled Humera.
13 November On 13 November, the Ethiopian Parliament appointed the Minister of Education Mulu Nega to replace Debretsion Gebremichael as the president of the Tigray Region, although rejected by the TPLF.