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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said his soldiers would “destroy” rebels from the northern Tigray region, in the latest instalment of state media footage purportedly showing him at the war front.
Ethiopian former long distance runner Haile Gebrselassie (C) has said he is determined to “sacrifice and stand for Ethiopia” (AFP/EDUARDO SOTERAS)
“You are comprehensively destroying the enemy, there is no going back without winning,” Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, said in the 34-minute clip posted Saturday to his office’s Twitter page.
“Until we destroy the enemy there is no rest.”
Abiy announced this week he would start leading operations against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which once dominated national politics but has been locked in a gruesome war with his government for the past year.
The country’s most famous distance runner, Haile Gebreselassie, told AFP he was determined to “sacrifice and stand for Ethiopia”.
The TPLF, he added, “is destabilising our country beyond its region”.
On Wednesday state-affiliated media announced Abiy had handed over regular duties to his deputy.
The TPLF has aligned itself with other armed groups including the Oromo Liberation Army, which is active in the Oromia region surrounding the city.
On Friday, state media showed what it described as the first footage of Abiy, a former lieutenant-colonel, in uniform at the front, including an interview in which he vowed to “bury the enemy”.
Independent media have largely been denied access to war-affected regions in recent weeks.
– Visiting troops -On Saturday officials in Addis Ababa held a ceremony for athletes and artists heading north to visit troops.
The war erupted in early November 2020 when Abiy deployed troops into Tigray to topple the TPLF, a move he said came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps.
Though he promised a swift victory, by late June the TPLF had regrouped and retaken most of Tigray, and it has since pushed into the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions.
International alarm is growing over a possible rebel assault on the capital, with the US, the UK, Germany and Italy all on the list of countries urging their citizens to leave Ethiopia.
The government insists rebel gains are overstated, blaming what it describes as sensational media coverage and alarmist security advisories from embassies for creating panic.
