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“We are not concerned about timing, we are concerned about our final complete success,” mentioned the president of the Tigray area, Debretsion Gebremichael, on Tigray TV Monday night time.
On Sunday, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister warned members of the the area’s ruling get together, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), to surrender “within the next 72 hours, recognizing that you are at a point of no return.”
But TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda claimed their forces had been placing up a robust fight on the frontlines and steered that if the regional capital of Mekelle had been captured by federal forces, the TPLF would merely change methods to recapture fallen cities. “We will never let him stay safe for one minute,” Reda mentioned Monday on Tigray TV.
On Tuesday, Getachew, instructed Tigray TV {that a} prestigious Ethiopian military unit — which he termed the 21st mechanized division — had been “completely destroyed” in an assault at Raya-Wahirat led by a former commander of that unit who defected to the TPLF aspect, Reuters reported.
Billene Seyoum, the prime minister’s spokeswoman, instructed Reuters that was not true.
CNN has not been in a position to confirm statements made by both aspect due to a regional communications blackout.
Government forces say they’re at the moment closing in on Mekelle forward of a promised “final phase” of the army operation there following a stark warning to Tigrayan forces to surrender.
The federal army mentioned the third and ultimate part of the army operation contains plans to encompass the regional capital Mekelle with tanks, warning civilians to watch out for artillery.
The battle threatens to undo years of progress in Africa’s second most populous nation and the restive Horn of Africa area.
The battle has unfold to Eritrea, the place the TPLF has fired rockets, and likewise affected Somalia the place Ethiopia has disarmed a number of hundred Tigrayans in a peacekeeping drive combating al Qaeda-linked militants.
Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa and chairperson of the African Union, met the president of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde on Friday.
The European Union, United States and United Kingdom have urged de-escalation because the battle started.
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