Ethiopia suspends military operations in Tigray

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has announced the suspension of military operations in the northern Tigray region.

The announcement was made on Saturday November 28, 2020, after the army said it was in “full control” of the regional capital, Mekelle.

“I am pleased to share that we have completed and ceased the military operations in the Tigray region,” Abiy said on Twitter on Saturday.

“Our focus now will be on rebuilding the region and providing humanitarian assistance while Federal Police apprehend the TPLF clique,” referring to the leaders of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), whose forces have been fighting federal troops for more than three weeks.

Hours later, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael said the heavily armed rebellious Tigrayan forces will keep fighting the government.

“Their brutality can only add (to) our resolve to fight these invaders to the last,” he said in a text message to Reuters.

Hours earlier, Ethiopian army chief General Birhanu Jula was quoted as saying by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation that the government forces “completely controlled Mekelle”.

He added that 7,000 members of the army’s Northern Command who were held hostage by the TPLF had been freed.

The government had given the TPLF an ultimatum that expired on Wednesday to surrender or face an assault on Mekelle, a city of 500,000 people.

Abiy announced on Thursday he had ordered a “final” offensive against the TPLF. Earlier on Saturday, Debretsion had said Mekelle was under “heavy bombardment”.

A diplomat in direct contact with residents also said federal forces had begun an offensive to capture Mekelle.

Claims from all sides are difficult to verify since phone and internet links to Tigray have been cut and access has been tightly controlled since fighting began on November 4.

It was reported that the developments late on Saturday suggested “that the large numbers of fighters and substantial military hardware that the TPLF is widely believed to control had actually already been tactically retreated into the nearby mountains.

He added, “It would appear that they’ve chosen not to use the resources that they have to fight to control the city. This would certainly be a relief for many people – rights groups and others have been warning about a potential disaster if there had been heavy fighting and shelling on the city.”

An official with the TPLF, which has long experience fighting in the Tigray region’s rugged terrain, told Al Jazeera earlier this week that the fall of Mekelle would not spell the end of their fight.

“Our forces still control much of rural Tigray, and our governing structure remains intact in these areas,” said Fesseha Tessema.

Thousands of people have died and nearly one million forced from their homes, including some 43,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring Sudan, during the conflict.

The fighting has threatened to cause a massive humanitarian crisis, as well as destabilise Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa region.

Abiy accused the TPLF of starting the war by attacking federal troops at a base in Tigray. The TPLF said the attack was a pre-emptive strike.