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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the army to deploy to the Tigray region, after accusing the government of attacking federal forces, in a major escalation of the dispute between Ahmed and the once strong region.
Last September, Tigray held elections in defiance of the federal government, which called the vote “illegal.”
The dispute escalated in recent days when the two sides accused each other of planning a military conflict.
In a statement, Abiy’s office said that earlier today, the TPLF attempted to steal artillery and other equipment from federal forces stationed there.
“The last red line has been crossed with the attacks this morning, for which the federal government was forced into a military confrontation,” my office said in a statement.
The statement said that the Ethiopian National Defense Forces were ordered to implement “their mission to save the country and the region from falling into a state of instability.”
Tigray province said in a televised statement that it had banned planes from crossing its airspace after Abiy’s decision and that the Federal Army Northern Command had defected and joined the Tigray forces.
It was not possible to immediately obtain comments from the Federal Army on what the region announced.
Tigrayan President Debarsion Gebramikail told a news conference on Monday that the Abiyan government planned to attack the region to punish it for holding the September elections.
There were no comments on the statement from Debrecion’s prime minister or any other Tigray official.
