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The leader of Ethiopia’s dissident Tigray region has said that 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 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Mekele, the capital of Tigrayan and headquarters of the TPLF, ahead of a total bombing threat of the city of half a million people.
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 does not 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 told AFP via WhatsApp on Monday.
A communications blackout in the region has made claims on both sides difficult to verify.
Threat ‘without mercy’
Brigadier General Tesfaye Ayalew, quoted by the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate on Monday, said federal troops were “marching on Mekele” after having captured key cities in the north and south.
The army has threatened a “merciless” tank assault on TPLF leaders in Mekele, warning civilians to leave while they can, raising concern among rights activists.
“Treating an entire city as a military target not only (would be) illegal, it could also be considered a form of collective punishment,” Human Rights Watch researcher Laetitia Bader wrote on Twitter.
Abiy has urged the people of Mekele to side with the national army against the TPLF, “to bring this traitorous group to justice.”
Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in nearly three weeks of fighting in which fighter jets bombarded the region and tanks entered combat.
Amnesty International also documented a gruesome massacre in which “dozens and probably hundreds” of people were stabbed and hacked to death in the southwestern city of Mai-Kadra.
Meanwhile, more than 40,000 Ethiopians have fled west into Sudan and rockets have hit Eritrea to the north, raising fears that the internal conflict risks instability beyond its borders.
The UN Security Council will hold its first meeting on the conflict in Tigray, diplomatic sources said Monday night.
Tuesday’s virtual meeting will not be open to the public, they said, and it was not yet clear whether a statement would be issued later.
Rocket attack
In Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region south of Tigray, two witnesses told AFP on Monday that rockets had hit the city, the third time it has been hit by a bombardment since fighting began.
“Three rockets fell on the city near the airport area. We do not know of casualties or damage,” said a witness, who asked not to be named.
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 in a statement Sunday evening accused Tigrayan forces of destroying key infrastructure in their withdrawal from the fighting, including the airport in the city of Axum and schools, bridges, medical centers and roads.
Images broadcast by Ethiopian authorities on Monday showed what appeared to be deep gouges and damage on the Axum runway.
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 dialogue 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 regime in 1991 and controlled the coalition that came to power, ruling Ethiopia for nearly three decades until Abiy was appointed in 2018.
Since then, Tigrayan leaders have complained of being unfairly targeted in corruption trials, dismissed from the highest positions, and generally scapegoats for the country’s troubles.
(AFP)
