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Ethiopia’s official announcement came with the outbreak of the second day of fighting, when the soldiers concentrated on the borders of the region.
Berhanu Gula, deputy commander of the Ethiopian army, told a press conference in Addis Ababa: “Our country has entered a war that you did not expect. This war is shameful and senseless.”
“We will make sure that the war does not spread to the center of the country,” Gula added, and is limited to Tigray.
The Ethiopian government declared a six-month state of emergency in the northern region of Tigray on Wednesday after an attack on the army.
And 24 people were injured by shelling in the Ethiopian province of Tigray, while receiving treatment at a medical center near the border with the Amhara region.
Prime Minister Ahmed Abyei accused the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the ruling party in this region, of attacking an Ethiopian military base and announced a response to the attack.
Tensions escalated between Addis Ababa and Tigray, and the region’s leaders refused to extend the parliament to the mandate of the representatives representing the region and held elections in their region last September.
Since then, Ethiopian senators voted in early October to cut communications and funding from federal authorities in favor of Tigray officials.
As part of this tension, surveillance operations were imposed on military personnel and equipment in Tigray.
Last Friday, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) blocked an Addis Ababa-appointed general from taking office there and was forced to return to office after being informed that his appointment was not considered legitimate.
And the US embassy in Addis Ababa called for an immediate reduction of the crisis in Tigray.
The Tigray region includes a large part of the military personnel and equipment of the federal state, and is a legacy of the war that took place between 1998 and 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
