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Tigray forces fighting the Ethiopian federal government in the northern region said they “completely destroyed” the army’s 21st Mechanized Division.
Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray Army, made the claim during a television broadcast on Tuesday.
Reda promised to “arm each and every civilian to defend the city of Mekelle,” the capital of Tigray with a population of some 500,000 people.
A government spokesman did not return calls seeking a response to Reda’s comments.
It is impossible to verify the statements made by either party, as the telephone and Internet connections to the Tigray region are down and access to the area is strictly controlled.
‘Fight to the death’
Since the conflict broke out on November 4, hundreds of people have died and some 40,000 have fled to neighboring Sudan.
The leader of Ethiopia’s dissident Tigray region has said his people are “ready to die” defending their homeland, rejecting Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ultimatum that he surrender in 72 hours.
Abiy launched a military campaign against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on November 4, accusing it of attacking two federal military camps in the northern region, as well as challenging and seeking to destabilize his government.
The federal army says its forces are within 60 kilometers (37 miles) of Mekelle, the headquarters of the TPLF, before a threat of total bombardment of the city.
A member of the Amhara special forces, allied with the Ethiopian federal government, holds his assault rifle in Humera, Ethiopia, on Sunday. [Eduardo Soteras/AFP]
Abiy, last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, on Sunday called on the TPLF to surrender peacefully within three days, saying they were “at a point of no return.”
But TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said Abiy was trying to cover up the setbacks his army had suffered against the Tigrayan forces and was issuing threats to buy time.
“He doesn’t understand who we are. We are people of principle and we are willing to die in defense of our right to manage our region, ”Debretsion said Monday.
‘Mercilessly’
Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew, quoted Monday by Fana Broadcasting Corporate, said that federal troops were “marching into Mekelle” after having captured key cities in the north and south.
The army has threatened a “merciless” tank assault on the TPLF leaders in Mekelle, warning civilians to leave while they can, raising concern among human rights activists.
“Treating an entire city as a military target not just [be] illegal, it could also be seen as a form of collective punishment, ”said Laetitia Bader, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.
Amnesty International has documented a gruesome mass murder in which “probably hundreds” of people were stabbed and hacked to death in the southwestern city of Mai-Kadra.
The UN Security Council will hold its first meeting on the conflict on Tuesday. The virtual meeting will not be open to the public and it was not yet clear whether a statement will be issued later, diplomatic sources said.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called last week for humanitarian corridors to be opened to help civilians caught in the fighting, noting that Ethiopian authorities had so far rejected mediation attempts.
Rocket attack
In Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region south of Tigray, witnesses said Monday that rockets had hit the city, the third time it had been bombed since fighting began.
There was no immediate response from the government, and no claim of responsibility.
The TPLF claimed responsibility for the previous rocket attacks in Bahir Dar and Gondar, another city in Amhara, as well as in the Eritrean capital Asmara.
Abiy has resisted international pressure to stop the fighting, including from the African Union (AU), describing the campaign as a “law enforcement operation” against a “treacherous group” that is now entering its final phase.
Redwan Hussein, spokesman for an Ethiopian committee handling the conflict, said the government would meet with envoys sent by the AU “as a matter of respect” but flatly ruled out any conversation with the TPLF.
“The facts on the ground have changed and we have come to the end,” he told reporters on Monday.
The TPLF led the armed struggle that toppled the brutal Derg government in 1991 and controlled the coalition that came to power, ruling Ethiopia for nearly 30 years until Abiy was appointed in 2018.
Since then, Tigray leaders have complained of being unfairly singled out in corruption trials, removed from top positions and generally scapegoats for the country’s troubles.
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