“We’re not worried about timing, we’re worried about our ultimate success,” said Debretsian Gaber Michael, president of the Tigers region, on Monday night.
On Sunday, Ethiopia’s prime minister warned members of the region’s ruling party, the Tigrell People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), to “surrender within the next 72 hours, assuming you will not return.”
But TPLF spokesman Geteshu Radha claimed that his forces were fighting fierce battles on the front lines and suggested that if the regional capital, Macaulay, was captured by federal forces, the TPLF would simply change its strategy to capture the falling cities. . “We will never let him be safe for a minute,” Radha told Tiger TV on Monday.
On Tuesday, Getachi told Tigre TV that a well-known Ethiopian army unit – which he called the 21st McNeiad Division – was “completely destroyed” in an attack led by a former commander of that unit in Raya-Wahirat. Who had adopted him. The TPLF side, Reuters reported.
A spokesman for the prime minister, Blaine Soyom, told Reuters that this was not true.
CNN could not confirm the statements from either side due to a regional communication blackout.
Government forces say they are currently closing before the promised “final phase” of military action against McLean after a stern warning to surrender to Tigrian forces.
The federal military says the third and final phase of the military operation involves a plan to encircle the regional capital, Macaulay, with tanks, warning civilians to be wary of artillery.
The conflict threatens to undo years of progress in Africa’s second-most populous country and in Africa’s extremist Horn region.
The conflict has spread to Eritrea, where the TPLF has fired rockets, and has also affected Somalia, where Ethiopia has armed hundreds of Tigris in peacekeepers fighting al Qaeda-linked militants.
Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa and Chairperson of the African Union, met with Ethiopian President Sahle-Wark Zweida on Friday.
The European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom have called for de-escalation following the dispute.
