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Forces loyal to the former government party in the Tigray region of Ethiopian rebels have entered the capital of the Mekelle region, and have dealt the hardest blow to the Addis Ababa government since the bitter conflict began in November.
“We have taken over Mekelle,” said a member of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, who is likely to be killed by thousands of people, displaced by millions and displaced by famine after eight months after the start of the civil war.
A resident of Mekell said “everyone is very happy that the fighters are in control of the city,” as the people waved the red and yellow flags at Tigrayan. But they added that within a radius of about 25 km around the city “there is still war”.
Calls for Tigray interim administration officials appointed by Addis Ababa went unanswered, but witnesses and reports said they fled the capital Tigrayan.
Billene Seyoum, spokesperson Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, did not give an opinion on when the Tigrayan troops took Mekelle.
But he confirmed that the Ethiopian government on Monday had called for an “unconditional humanitarian ceasefire”. International organizations have raised existing alarms hundreds of thousands living in conditions like hunger.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday night that after speaking with Abiy he was hopeful that “there will be a ceasefire in the Tigray.”
In recent weeks, diplomatic and humanitarian sources have said that forces loyal to the TPLF have recaptured lost territory against Ethiopian federal forces.
Getachew Reda, a senior member of the TPLF, said on Sunday that “our forces are gaining more and more ground” but that his claims could not be verified. On Monday, he told Reuters via satellite phone that Mekelle was “under our control.”
Fighting began in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia in early November after Abiy sent troops to expel TPLF.
Government officials say Tigray was left with no chance of invading after troops loyal to the TPLF attacked the northern command of the federal army. Abiy promised that the operation would restore law and order quickly, but the conflict has dragged on. war which has sparked the supposed massacres, fueling the humanitarian crisis.
He has also rallied troops around Eritrea as the capital Asmara has been hit by insurgent rockets and strong leader Isaias Afwerki hates the TPLF. The conflict has horrified the international community that awarded Abiyri the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.
The Addis Ababa government called the TPLF, long the main party in Tigray, a “criminal clique”. He was a key member of the four-party coalition that led Ethiopia for nearly three decades until 2018, when Abiy took office, and the TPLF played a decisive role in national politics.
The Tigrayars have a long history in the fight against Addis Ababa. It was waged in the 1940s against Emperor Haile Selassie in the so-called Woyane Rebellion. Forty years later, they led a successful guerrilla war against the Marxist regime in Derg, after coming to power in 1991 after moving to Addis Ababa.
Unilateral ceasefire declarations loyal to TPLF after some major military gains of fighters and to strengthen its position ”.
However, he warned that “although it opens the door to dialogue for a broader solution to the conflict, the discussions will be difficult and lengthy.”
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