In his first comment on the expansion of fighting in the Amhara region, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that all attempts to incur the Tigray Liberation Front militants had been thwarted, at a time when the US State Department expressed concern about these developments.
Abi Ahmed called on citizens to stand by the security forces, saying that defense is everyone's responsibility.
The parliament of the Amhara region declared a state of emergency and suspended work in all government institutions in the region.
A statement issued by the parliament said, "The terrorist attacks carried out by the LTTE militants on citizens and targeting their existence, cannot be confronted according to the normal law enforcement system alone, so emergency decisions have been issued."
The Amhara region is the second largest region in Ethiopia in terms of population. It has borders with several Ethiopian regions, including Tigray region, and also borders with Sudan in the Al-Fashqa region. The Blue Nile River stems from the region, where is Lake Tana.
American concern
On Monday, the US State Department expressed concern over reports that the Tigray People's Liberation Front seized the cities of Disi and Kombolcha in the Ethiopian Amhara region.
"The United States is concerned by reports of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) seizing Disi and Kombolcha," Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken said in a tweet on Twitter.
"The continuation of the fighting prolongs the dire humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia. All parties must stop military operations and start ceasefire negotiations without preconditions," he added.
control
On Sunday, the Tigray People's Liberation Front announced its control of the strategic city of Kombolcha in the north of the country after declaring its control over the city of Disi, while the Ethiopian government denied these allegations, noting that its forces were still fighting "violent battles" with the militants.
"Total control of Kombolcha," MILF spokesman Getachew Reda wrote in a tweet.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front regained most of the Tigray region last June, before expanding to neighboring areas.
But government spokesman Legisi Tolo told a news conference on Sunday, "There are currently heavy fighting on the Disi and Kombolcha fronts."
Much of northern Ethiopia is closed to the press, which makes it very difficult to independently verify the two sides' information.
The fighting in Kombolcha fueled speculation that the Tigray Front forces might reach the capital, Addis Ababa.
Yesterday, terrified residents of Kombolcha told AFP that they spent Monday in their homes, at a time when battles took place between the forces of the Tigray Liberation Front on one side and the Ethiopian army and local militias on the other.
Bombardment of Tigray
The Ethiopian army announced that it launched an air strike on Tigray on Sunday, according to a statement issued by the government via Twitter, noting that the raid targeted a "military training facility (that was) a recruitment and training center" for the Tigray Liberation Front.
The Oromo Liberation Army and the Tigray People's Liberation Front announced last August a military alliance, increasing pressure on the central government.
The developments in Tigray come about a year after clashes erupted on November 4, 2020, between the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, after government forces entered the region in response to an attack on an army base.
On the 28th of the same month, Ethiopia announced the end of a "law enforcement" operation by taking control of the entire region, despite reports of continued human rights violations in the region since then, with thousands of civilians killed.