Araweelo News Network.
Addis Ababa(ANN)-The Federal Government of Ethiopia (FGS) has for the first time officially acknowledged that the town of Mekelle is out of the hands of Eritrean-backed federal government forces and has now taken full control of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Eight months of bloody fighting in Tigray region.
The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said federal government troops had withdrawn from the region, saying they had made the decision not to turn Mekelle into a cemetery, but another government official said troops would return in a few weeks. If needed.
When we entered Mekelle seven or eight months ago, it was the center of the conflict,” Prime Minister Abiy said in a video released by state media on Wednesday.
In the video, he says Mekelle was the seat of government. A center for unknown and unknown sources. But when we go out, there is nothing special about it except that there are about 80,000 people and looters, and it is violent in the current situation. “he said.
He also said that foreign intervention was taking place in Ethiopia, and that the main reason Mekelle’s government had withdrawn its troops was to show restraint from international calls for a ceasefire and that the locals had been betraying the army. During their stay in the area, Abiy said that many army officers were killed in a conspiracy by the people to help those he called troublemakers, and he pointed out that what was happening there caused them to despair. put in the army and many officers killed themselves, when they saw how the locals they were protecting never showed loyalty and support. So they decided to leave, looking at the situation and the circumstances.
“If necessary, we can easily enter Mekelle and enter in less than three weeks,” said Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the Ethiopian government’s task force in Tigray.
The statement from the Ethiopian government is the first to address the situation in Mekelle region since the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) took control of Mekelle, the capital of the northern region, on Monday, after nearly eight months of fighting. One day, federal and neighboring Eritrean forces, backed by Amhara militias, clashed with TPLF militants, who were ousted from the region in November, but were engaged in guerrilla warfare, sheltering in the local mountains from their invasion, overthrew the Mingiste Military Government in 1991.
Mekelle residents said communications had been completely cut off in Shire on Wednesday, and that Eritrean troops had been seen in the region after Tigrayan fighters expanded into the region, dispersing residents met welcome.
“They have moved our forces to pursue the” enemy “forces if necessary,” Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the TPLF, told Reuters on Tuesday. He called the enemy.
“The capital of Tigray, Mekelle, is under our control. If the Amhara is what it is taking, we will do it. If Eritrea is what it is taking, we will do it,” said Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. He told Reuters by telephone on Tuesday afternoon.
On Monday, former Tigrayan commanders returned to Mekelle, and the Ethiopian government immediately declared a ceasefire. The regional capital of Mekelle was captured by TPLF fighters, following deadly clashes and humanitarian crises. caused by the fighting there since November 2020, but now that the Tigray rebels have recaptured the region, the ousted Ethiopian government suddenly declared a ceasefire, causing millions of dollars in losses and facing Ethiopia Diplomatic pressure from abroad, as well as Sudan’s occupation of disputed territory.
Similarly, Ethiopian and Eritrean Special Forces backed by Amhara militias have been accused of brutally massacring unarmed civilians, raping, looting and abusing Tigrayans.
Abiy amed, in a speech to parliament in March, acknowledged that abuses had taken place and promised to hold accountable any member of the Ethiopian army who committed crimes against civilians.
The fighting, which has forced millions of people to flee their homes, displaced more than 2 million, and left at least 350,000 people facing starvation, while another 5 million are in urgent need of food aid, according to the report. The United Nations has described the situation in Tigray as the world’s worst food crisis in a decade.
In Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, home to more than eighty ethnic groups, fighting in the Tigray region has severely damaged the cohesion and trust of ethnic communities, with some ethnic clashes causing casualties deaths and injuries, but the end of the eight-month defeat was seen as a factor in the disintegration of ethnic groups such as Yugoslavia, as well as instability that has negatively affected security in the Horn of Africa.
Published Araweelo News Network.
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By Arraale M Jama Freelance Journalist and Human Rights activist.
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