Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stressed today, Friday, rejecting any outside interference in the ongoing war in the country, and issued orders to the army to take control of Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region, while the Tigrayan Liberation Front announced that it had dug trenches around the city and pledged to continue fighting until the end.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister met on Friday with African peace envoys as part of regional efforts to stop the war and push the government to negotiate with the front.
But Abiy Ahmed stressed his rejection of any foreign interference, and said that he would not hold talks with the leaders of the Front, and that they had no choice but to lay down their arms and surrender.
The last stage
Abi Ahmed had earlier instructed the Ethiopian army to start the last phase of the military operations in the region.
The Ethiopian Defense Minister, Kenya Yadita, told Anadolu Agency that about 70% to 80% of the heavy weapons in the front's possession have so far been recovered, and other weapons have been destroyed along with a large number of fighters.
"The front launched a well-planned, multi-pronged attack against the Ethiopian state," he added, adding, "We reorganized the (Ethiopian) army, and we launched attacks on many fronts, and we succeeded in liberating all parts of Tigray except Mikeli."
He pointed out that the front "has recruited and mobilized high-ranking officers from within the army who have been arrested and will be brought to justice."
He said that government forces, backed by warplanes, drones, and teams of special forces and mechanics, are now gathering in the vicinity of Mikeli.
"We are preparing to launch the latest attack," he added, referring to the army's encirclement of the capital, Mekele, in order to control it, stressing that thousands of members of the Special Forces and "militias affiliated with the Popular Front have surrendered during the past three days after the final warning issued by the Ethiopian army."
Abiy Ahmed stressed the refusal to negotiate with the leaders of the Tigray Front (Anatolia)
The front challenges
On the other hand, the Tigray People's Liberation Front announced that it had repelled the attacks of the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces on several fronts, and called on the people of the region to take up arms to defend themselves, and also appealed to the international community to intervene to stop the war.
The Popular Front said it was digging trenches around the city, and pledged to continue fighting until the end.
One of its leaders denied that they were surrounded by government forces.
Front spokesman Getachew Raza announced that its forces destroyed a mechanized special division of the army.
Experts said that the Tigrayan front forces possessed large military equipment and numbered 250,000 members, and added that the region has a long history of armed resistance.
It is noteworthy that the fighting between the front and the army broke out early this month due to political differences.
The Front dominated political life in Ethiopia for about 3 decades, before Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, becoming the first prime minister of the "Oromo" ethnicity.
And "Oromo" is the largest ethnicity in Ethiopia by 35% of the population, which numbered about 108 million people, while the "Tigray" is the third largest ethnicity with 7.3%.
The front, complaining of marginalization, split from the ruling coalition, and challenged Abiy Ahmed to hold regional elections last September, which the government considered "illegal", in light of a federal decision to postpone the elections due to the Corona pandemic.