Tigray forces claim march to Addis Ababa ‘now possible’
The armed group fighting the Ethiopian army and its allied regional forces in Tigray claims it is now in a position to march towards the country’s capital, Addis Ababa.General Tsadkan Gebretensae, the top military official of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), alleges that Tigrayan forces have completed a three-day battle and destroyed divisions of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) in the Amhara region’s Kobbo-Weldiya area.TPLF forces have advanced deeper into the Amhara region and captured two more towns in offensives launched over the past three days.
The General claimed Saturday that Presidential Guard forces sent by Addis Ababa to fight them had been destroyed.
“The balance of forces is now completely in our favour. We are in a position to march into Addis Ababa with no real opposition,” he said.
“Engagement on the road from Chercher town to Mille, inside Afar region, was successful” he added.
The well-known former Ethiopia army General further said TPLF forces will now move swiftly to control the Addis Ababa-Djibouti main road and will be in a position to accept direct humanitarian assistance to Tigray.
Abiy’s vow against TPLF
The Ethiopian government did not immediately comment on the claim about a march to Ethiopia, but last week, PM Abiy vowed to wipe out TPLF, a group that was once the country’s ruling party, but which Addis Ababa now considers a terrorist movement.
Using alarming words like “weeds”, “cancer” and “disease” to refer to the group, the Ethiopian leader seemed to confirm the final collapse of the unilateral ceasefire he had declared two weeks ago, which was meant to aid humanitarian access in the region now controlled by fighters allied to TPLF.
“The enemy we are facing is Ethiopia’s cancer,” Abiy said in a tweet referring to TPLF, led by Debretsion Gebremichael, whom Addis Ababa has proscribed alongside other senior Tigrayan leaders.
He said TPLF probably is the first and the only group in Ethiopia’s history that is trying to disintegrate the country.
“But certainly the junta will be uprooted in a way it will not regrow again…This will happen if we all rise to remove the Emboch,” he declared.
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