Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, said that the Tuesday military operations would enter the “Final” phase. He announced this as the international pressure accumulated to bring the two-week-old conflict to a swift end.
The Resisted Dialogues as Operations Goes on
There were strikes in the regional capital of Mekele on Monday as East African leaders called for dialogue and the end of the conflict. However, Ethiopia has far resisted this movement.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister, who is also last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, publicized a military campaign in the dissident region in November. He said that the response to military attacks came in response to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party in Ethiopia, in federal military camps.
The fighting has left several Ethiopians dead, and several flee across the border into Sudan.
On Friday, the prime minister declared the TPLF was “in the final throes of death” and gave troops in the region three days to “rise ” and side with the national army.
In a Facebook post, he said their time was up;
“The three-day deadline for the Tigray regional special forces and militia to hand themselves over to national defense forces instead of being a tool for the greedy junta has expired. Those Tigray special forces and militia who used the three-day deadline are appreciated,” he said.
“Since the deadline has been completed, in the coming days, the final law enforcement activities will be done.”
Luck of communication as acted as fuel in Tigray’s battle for peace as it is difficult to assess how the fighting is going.
The Federal forces claim to control Tigray’s western zone. This is the area where fighting has been massive. They said that they had seized the town of Alamata, which is 180 kilometers south of the regional capital, Mekele,
But Tigrayan leader Debretsion Gebremichael told AFP Tuesday that “the government and people of Tigray” would hold their ground.
“This campaign cannot be finished. As long as the army of the invaders is in our land, the fight will continue. They cannot keep us silent by military force,” he said.
No Mediation Just Yet
The prime minister has resisted calls by world leaders to cease hostilities and accept mediation.
Demeke Mekonnen, deputy prime minister, flew to Kenya and Uganda to meet with the regional heavyweights’ presidents.
“A war in Ethiopia would give the entire continent a bad image,” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni wrote on Twitter after meeting Demeke.
“There should be negotiations, and the conflict stopped, lest it leads to unnecessary loss of lives and cripples the economy.”
Later on, Museveni deleted the tweet as an Ethiopian official said Demeke made it clear that negotiations were not an immediate possibility.
Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s president, called for a “peaceful” resolution of the crisis.
The prime minister has insisted that there will be no mediation until Tigray’s leaders are disarmed and brought to court.
The leading party dominated Ethiopian politics for three decades before the prime minister came to power in 2018. However, since they sidelined from politics, a bitter feud has grown, becoming ever more defiant towards the central government.
The Spreading Conflict
“Precision led and surgical air operations outside of Mekele city based on information received of specific critical TPLF targets.” Said a government statement on Tuesday.
A resident of Mekele told AFP there was a low-flying warplane over the city on Monday. At least one civilian died in a strike not far from a University campus. However, the government denied any casualties.
The Nobel Committee said that it was “deeply concerned.”
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