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Ethiopian government says troops will not enter Tigray, for now | Stories

Federal troops ordered to retain territories recently won from Tigrayan troops, the government says.

The Ethiopian government has ordered its troops not to proceed to the war-torn area north of Tigray.

The federal army and its allies have made great strides in recent weeks, capturing towns and major cities in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions that Tigrayan fighters captured earlier this year. Tigraya troops were forced to do so return in their homeland.

“The first operation to oust the terrorist group in the areas they have conquered is over,” Legesse Tulu, head of the Government Communication Service, told reporters on Thursday, referring to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which was in power. federal government for many years before Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in 2018.

“Right now the desire and skill of the enemy [to engage in war] is badly damaged, ”he said. “The government will take action to ensure this [the Tigrayan forces’] the desire will never rise again. In the meantime, Ethiopian troops are being deployed to care for areas under their control. “

The government’s announcement that its troops do not follow the Tigrayan army in their area could be an opportunity to promote an end to the war and to negotiate a 13-month-long conflict.

Troops stayed in Tigray for the first eight months of the war, before leaving in June following a massacre.

Tigrayan troops stormed the Amhara and Afar territories in July, saying they wanted to tackle the Tigray aid line, but withdrew this month after suffering heavy casualties in the war. The government has denied the United Nations’ decision to ban food aid in the famine-stricken Tigray region.

Earlier this week, a Tigrayan military commander said their fighters had been ordered to return to Tigray.

“I have ordered the Tigray troops outside the Tigray border to leave the Tigray border soon,” Debretsion Gebremichael said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Debretsion decided to end the war quickly to be followed by negotiations. He also called for the establishment of a free zone in Tigray to curb airstrikes in the region and the imposition of international military sanctions in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Airstrikes in Tigray have continued. On Wednesday, a plane crash hit a power plant in the provincial capital, Mekelle, regional journalists and two local humanitarian organizations told Reuters. Another source reported that co-workers were in the hospital with injured staff from the substation.

The strike threatens the ability to secure power in the northern region, which already exists after 13 months of power struggle. Power in Mekelle had subsided since the beating, aid agencies told Reuters.

Neither Legesse nor military spokesman Colonel Getnet Adane did not respond to a request for comment.

Access to electronic telecommunications and communications services was closed in Tigray after governments withdrew from the area at the end of June. Tigray has not had access to electricity in the region since then. The UN has urged the Ethiopian government to restore power in the region.

Ethiopian government troops appear to have been encouraged by aircraft with aerial weapons purchased from China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, said William Davison, of the International Crisis Group.

“The Tigray forces seem to be weak after leaving all the territories they control,” he said.

The horrific war has killed thousands of people and has become known as litany cruelty, including murder and rape. It has also left behind a major humanitarian crisis, with millions of people fleeing their homes and in need of help.




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