Ethiopia army says it 'fully captured' Tigray state capital, on manhunt for TPLF factions

In an official announcement, Ethiopia’s army said on November 28 that it “fully captured” Tigray regional state capital and is conducting a search operation to root out the leaders of the rebellious factions. Declaring the victory on the regional capital, Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) said that the military operations have concluded with the government's "full command” of Tigray. Troops were now in the manhunt of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) party leaders, hours after the armed forces gained a stronghold in the capital Mekelle after they launched an offensive on the city that inhabited 500,000 civilians. 

In a statement, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that Mekelle was under the command of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, and the Federal police will “apprehend the TPLF criminals”. He added that the ENDF managed to rescue thousands of Northern Command officers held captive by TPLF and had taken control of the Northern Command camp. The Ethiopian army will take control of the “national airport, public institution, regional administration, and critical facilities” of Tigray, PM Ahmed announced. “We have entered Mekele without innocent civilians being targets,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said separately, in a statement, adding, “this marks the completion of the operation.” Meanwhile, Tigray’s regional government said in a statement that thousands of civilians were bombed, nearly 44,000 fled the conflict-torn region to Sudan, and 1 million civilians were displaced in the conflict. 

The Prime Minister of Ethiopia labelled its three-week-long military operation as “support to the civilians” due to the internal law and order issue, adding, that the courts will bring TPLF perpetrators to justice. The military confrontation that began on November 4 has a root cause in PM Abiy’s diplomatic ties with Eritrea, who TPLF accused of infiltrating the troops inside the borders of Tigray. Meanwhile, TPLF’s officers conducted six explosions in the Eritrean capital Asmara, and fired rockets at Eritrea on November 14, according to a release by the US State Department. Although the exact location of the attack wasn’t immediately revealed by Eritrea defense forces.

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TPLF’s repeated military offensives against Ethiopia's ally led to regional instability in the Horn of Africa region. Since the conflict began earlier this month, the telephone and internet lines in the regional state capital of Tigray had been cut off. As the Ethiopian army entered Tigray, Maj. Gen. Hassan Ibrahim warned that his “armed forces officers will be tasked to hunt down and capture these criminals one by one.” A widespread massacre among the  Mai-Kadra community was reported by the news agencies on the ground. 

“Fighting and shelling in the Mekele area are a very grave concern. We urge an immediate end to conflict and restoration of peace in Tigray,” the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Tibor Nagy, tweeted.

117 arrest warrants for senior military officers

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael, accused of leading guerrilla forces in the north of Ethiopia and dominating Ethiopia’s ruling coalition before PM Abiy assumed office told reporters of DW-Africa that his forces are "ready to die” and the heavily armed Tigrayan troops will continue to fight. Ethiopia’s army chief General Birhanu Jula said in a statement that Mekelle was under the military’s total control. At least 17 arrest warrants against the military officers of Tigray was issued related to the war crimes, including treason and misappropriation of public property, state-run Fana TV reported, this included 117 arrest warrants for senior military officers of TLPF.  Global think tanks, experts, and regional diplomats, however, speculate that the military victory of Ethiopia might not imply the end of the conflict in the horn of Africa.

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(Image Credit: Twitter/@africaken1)