ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed today rejected what he called international “interference” in Ethiopia's affairs, ahead of a deadline for Tigray's regional leaders to surrender or face an assault on their capital, Mekele.
Abiy, the winner of last year's Nobel Prize, late Sunday gave the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) 72 hours to surrender – an ultimatum rejected by the leader of the dissident northern region, who has said his people are “ready to die” for their homeland.
As the clock ticked down, the UN Security Council held its first meeting on the three-week old crisis, with particular concern for civilians.
Ethiopian forces say they are encircling the city with tanks ahead of an assault on the TPLF, and have urged its half million residents to leave.
Rights groups have warned that attacking the city could constitute a war crime. The UN, US, EU and others have urged restraint, and called for an immediate halt to hostilities.
Abiy has resisted calls for mediation and insists the “law enforcement operation” against the TPLF is entering its decisive final stage.
In a statement today, he said Ethiopia appreciated the concern but stressed his government was “very much capable” of resolving the matter on its own.
“While we consider the concerns and advice of our friends, we reject any interference in our internal affairs,” Abiy said.
“We therefore respectfully urge the international community to refrain from any unwelcome and unlawful acts of interference and respect the fundamental principles of non-intervention under international law.”
The African Union, headquartered in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, has dispatched three former African presidents as special envoys to try and broker talks.
A spokesman for an Ethiopian committee handling the conflict said Monday the government would meet the envoys “as a matter of respect” but flatly ruled out negotiations with the TPLF.
Fighting between the Ethiopian army and Tigrayan forces has raged since November 4, when Abiy ordered a military response to what he said were TPLF attacks on federal military camps.
More than 40,000 refugees have fled the violence into eastern Sudan, and rockets have fallen on the Eritrean capital Asmara and Ethiopian cities outside Tigray, spurring fears the conflict could widen.
Hundreds have reportedly been killed, including at least 600 civilians that Ethiopia's rights watchdog says were massacred in the town of Mai-Kadra.
Efforts to gauge the actual situation on the ground has been further complicated by a communications blackout enforced by Abiy’s government on the region. – AFP, November 25, 2020
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