Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's ultimatum to Tigray leaders
Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed, December 7, 2019 © Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In an announcement made Sunday evening in Addis Ababa, he left 72 hours for the TPLF secessionists to lay down their arms.
Publicity
Read more
“
The road to your destruction is coming to an end and we ask you to surrender within the next 72 hours.
This is the message sent yesterday by Abiy Ahmed to the leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
The Prime Minister therefore urges them to lay down their arms.
“
You are at a point of no return
,” he adds.
Take this last chance.
"
A few hours earlier, the Ethiopian army had warned that an attack on Mékélé was imminent.
An army spokesperson called on the 500,000 inhabitants who live there to flee.
“
Directives,
” he said,
“have been communicated to you to dissociate yourself from the junta, after which there will be no mercy.
"
In reaction to this announcement from the army, Debretsion Gebremichael, the head of the TPLF, promised that his troops would wage "
fierce fighting
".
The assault on Mékélé will not be decisive in his eyes, because, he said, "
as long as the occupying force is in Tigray, the fighting will not cease
".
On Saturday, the government claimed that the army had taken several towns on the road to Mékélé.
The TPLF accused the military forces of killing civilians during the bombing of the town of Adigrat.
Accusation rejected by the government.
Problem, it is impossible to verify the statements of the two camps, because the province is almost cut off from the world.
No official report is available for the time being on the number of victims.
One of the few figures available is that of the number of people who fled the fighting: more than 36,000 Ethiopians have thus joined Sudan, according to the country's refugee commission.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Ethiopia