Ethiopian PM promises to finish military operation in restive northern region

Ethiopian Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy on Tuesday promised to finish a military operation in the country’s restive northern Tigray regional state.

In a statement, Abiy said the government would complete law enforcement activities in the coming days, now that a 3-day amnesty period had expired.

On Saturday, the Ethiopian PM made a televised statement calling on Tigray region security forces to surrender to federal security forces in a 3-day window period.

“Since the 3-day amnesty deadline has been completed in the coming days, final law enforcement activities will be undertaken,” said Abiy.

The PM also commended Tigray region security forces who used the three days amnesty deadline to surrender to Federal Government security forces.

“The three days deadline for the Tigray region special forces and militia to give their hands to Ethiopia Defence Forces instead of being a tool for the greedy junta has expired,” said Abiy.

“Those Tigray special forces and militia who used the three-day deadline are much appreciated,” he said.

Since Nov. 4, the Ethiopian government had been undertaking military operations against the TPLF, the ruling party in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

And now in an official war against the Federal Government that followed TPLF’s reported attack against the Northern command of the Ethiopian Defence Force, a division that has been stationed in the region for over two decades.

The Ethiopian government has been blaming the TPLF, which was one of the four coalition fronts of Ethiopia’s former ruling party the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

Abiy accused TPLF for masterminding various treasonous acts across different parts of the country with an overarching goal of destabilising the East African country.

Three of the former four EPRDF coalition members had last year joined other regional parties in establishing the Prosperity Party, as the TPLF refused to join.

The mounting differences between the Federal Government and TPLF became worse in September, when the Tigray regional government decided to go with its planned regional elections.

The Ethiopian parliament had previously postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.