Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed gives Tigray forces 72 several hours to surrender regional capital
23 November, 2020
Ethiopian Primary Minister Abiy Ahmed gave Tigrayan regional forces 72 hours to surrender prior to the military commences an offensive in the regional capital of Mekelle.
"We desire you to surrender peacefully within 72 hours, recognising that you will be at the idea of no go back," Mr Abiy said on Twitter on Sunday evening.
Tigrayan forces cannot immediately be reached for comment.
An Ethiopian armed service spokesman said previous that advancing troops planned to surround Mekelle with tanks and could shell the location to force surrender.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front, which is refusing to surrender its rule of the northern region, said its forces were digging trenches and standing firm.
Statements by both sides will be hard to verify because telephone and internet communication has been down.
Mr Abiy's federal troops took a string of towns during aerial bombardments and surface fighting, and so are now targeting Mekelle, a highland metropolis of about 500,000 people, where in fact the rebels are based.
The conflict erupted on November 4 and has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, and has sent a lot more than 30,000 refugees feeling into neighbouring Sudan.
Rockets have already been fired by rebels into neighbouring Amhara location and across the border into Eritrea.
Mr Abiy said "all of the necessary precautionary actions have been taken to make certain that civilians are not harmed".
"All that the clique is kept with maybe the fort they have setup in Mekelle and empty satisfaction," he said.
Mr Abiy said the persons of Tigray had had enough of rebel violence against them, and appealed to the persons of Mekelle to stand with the government troops in "bringing this treasonous group" to justice.
He accuses Tigrayan leaders of revolting against the central authority and starting the conflict by attacking government troops in the city of Dansha upon November 4.
The rebels say his government has marginalised Tigrayans since taking office two years ago, removing them from senior roles in government and the armed service, and detaining various on rights abuse and corruption charges.
"The next phases will be the decisive part of the procedure, which is to encircle Mekelle using tanks," armed service spokesman Col Dejene Tsegaye told the state-run Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation previously Sunday.
Col Dejene said the TPLF leadership was "shielding itself within the general public".
"We want to send a message to the general public in Mekelle to save lots of yourselves from any artillery episodes and totally free yourselves from the junta," he said.
Rebel leader Debretsion Gebremichael said his forces were resisting a force from the south even though also fighting close to the northern area of Adigrat after it fell to government troops.
"Encircling Mekelle is their system yet somehow they couldn't," Mr Gebremichael said.
"On south front, they couldn't approach an inch for several week. They are mailing waves after waves but to no avail."
Mr Abiy drew plaudits for opening up Ethiopia's closed economy and repressive political program after taking business office in 2018.
He gained a Nobel Peace Prize this past year for closing a two-10 years standoff with Eritrea.
The awarding committee in Oslo the other day built a rare foray in to the activities of laureates by urging peace in Tigray.
Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the government's taskforce in Tigray, said there is still time for rebel leaders to surrender.
"The government will take maximum restraint never to cause major hazards for civilians," Mr Hussein said.
He said that while many Tigrayan exceptional forces and militiamen had surrendered or perhaps scattered around Adigrat, level of resistance was more powerful on the southern front side where rebels have dug up and booby-trapped roads, and destroyed bridges.
The taskforce added that the army had also taken the tiny town of Idaga Hamus on the highway from Adigrat to Mekelle.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com
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