Ethiopia commences final phase of "rule of law" operations in Tigray

The Ethiopian military has announced the commencement of the rule of law operations.

This was disclosed in a statement released on Thursday November 26, 2020, by the country’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

According to the statement, the 72-hour period granted to the criminal TPLF clique to surrender peacefully is now over and the law enforcement campaign has reached its final stage.

“Within the past 72 hours, thousands of Tigray Special Forces and militia members have surendered to the National Defence Force.

“Many young people in Tigray, realizing the TPLF’S evil intentions, have also refrained from engaging in TPLFS destrucive ambitions,” the statement reads.

It adds that the decision may have been taken in the last hours, it is nevertheless a responsible decision that is expected of citizens.

“When the federal government issued the 72-hour surrender time, it had two objectives.

“On the one hand, it was to demonstrate that the intention of our operations is to enforce the rule of law per the laws of the land.

“If the ciminal TPLF clique chose to peacefully surrender, the campaign would have be finalized with the least amount of damage.

“To this end, we have provided the opportunity for peaceful surrender on numerous occasions in
the past weeks.

“The second goal was to provide protection for those that finally understand the criminality of the TPLF clique and distance themselves from the group,” the statement adds.

It continued that the last peaceful gate which had remained open for the TPLF clique to walk through have now been frmly closed as a result of TPLF’s contempt for the people of Ethiopia.

It explains that thousands of members of the Tigray militia and special forces who have come to realize the destructive nature of TPLF have utilized the gates of peace and surrendered
peacefully.

“The Ethiopian National Defence Forces have now been directed to conclude the third and final phase of our rule of taw operations. In this, final phase. great care will be given to protect innocent civilians from harm.

“All efforts will be made to ensure that the city of Mekelle, which was built through the hard work of our people, will not be severely damaged.

“All precautions will be taken to ensure that heritage sites, places of worship, public facilities, development institutions and residential areas will not be targets,” the statement says.

Ahmed therefore called on the people of Mekelle and its environs to disarm, stay at home and stay away from military targets, and take all necessary precautions. We also call on the people of

“Mekelle to do their part in reducing damage to be sustained because of a handful of criminal TPLF elements, by exposing and handing over the criminal clique over to law
enforcement agents.

“I would like to assure you that our National Defence Forces have carefully devised a strategy to bring the TPLF criminal cique to justice, without harming innocent civilians, heritage sites, places of worship, development institutions and property,” the statement concludes.