Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday made an appeal to Tigrayan rebel troops to surrender immediately, just one week after he vowed to lead military operations at the front, reported Reuters.
“It [rebels] should surrender today to the Ethiopian National Defence Force, to the special forces, to the militias, and to the people,” Mr. Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, said in footage aired on state media.
Tuesday’s video clip was the latest footage that showed the Ethiopian Prime Minister donning a uniform with soldiers, in the northeastern region of Afar.
Fierce fighting is going on between the Ethiopian military troops and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in Afar’s northeastern region as rebel group tries to seize control of a critical highway connecting Addis Ababa.
On Sunday, the Ethiopian state media claimed the army regained control of the Chifra town, and Abiy said Tuesday such gains would be replicated to the west, in the Amhara region.
“The enemy has been defeated. We scored an unthinkable victory with the eastern command in one day… Now in the west, we will repeat this victory,” he said.
Abiy, a former lieutenant colonel in the military, made a decision to head to the battlefield last week after the TPLF claimed to control Shewa Robit, a town located 220 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa.
“The East Command secured an unimaginable victory in just one day of planning and a day and half long fighting,” he said in the clip.
He vowed to repeat the victory in the coming days.
A war erupted between the Ethiopian army and TPLF forces in November 2020, when Abiy sent troops to the Tigray region to oust the TPLF.
According to UN estimates, the war has killed thousands of people, displaced over two million, and forced hundreds of thousands to face famine-like conditions.
