“Within the past 72 hours, thousands of Tigray Special Forces and militia members have surrender to the National Defense Force. Many young people in Tigray, realizing the TPLF’s evil intentions, have also refrained from engaging in TPLF’s destructive ambitions. Although this may have been a decision taken in the last hours, it is nevertheless a responsible decision that is expected of citizens,” Ali said.

Ali stated that the Ethiopian National Defense Forces had now been directed to concluded the third and final phase of our rule of law operations.

“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.”

Ali also call on the people of Mekelle and its environs to disarm, stay at home and stay away from military targets, and take all necessary precautions in order not to be affected by ongoing clashes.

Final Phase of the Rule of Law Operations Commences pic.twitter.com/TAAyZxSe0U

— Abiy Ahmed Ali (@AbiyAhmedAli) November 26, 2020

An Armed conflict began on November 4 in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia, between Tigray Region special forces led by the Tigray People's Liberation Front) (TPLF), and the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) in alliance with Amhara Region special forces.

The conflict became heated when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed attempted to distance the country's politics from ethnic federalism, a power-sharing system giving regional influence to individual ethnic groups, by merging the ethnic and region-based parties of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, which had governed Ethiopia for 30 years, into a nationwide Prosperity Party.

The Tigray People's Liberation Front, a military and politically powerful entity inside Ethiopia representing 6% of the total population ethnically, refused to join the new party, and alleged that Abiy Ahmed became an illegitimate ruler by rescheduling the general elections set for 29 August 2020 to an undetermined date in 2021 due to COVID-19.

The TPLF went ahead with regional elections in Tigray in September 2020 in defiance of the federal government, which declared the Tigray election illegal.

The situation escalated to violence on the 4th of November with an alleged attack by the Tigray People's Liberation Front on the Northern Command Headquarters of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. Rocket attacks have spilled over into the neighboring Amhara Region and country of Eritrea. (ILKHA)