Leader orders ‘final’ military assault on rebel area

NAIROBI, Kenya — Just over three weeks ago, Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed unleashed his military forces in an attempt to subdue the country’s northern region of Tigray, whose rebellious governing party was until recently the dominant force in Ethiopia’s central government.

On Thursday, Abiy ratcheted up the conflict, ordering what he called a “final” military assault on Tigray’s capital and announcing that the deadline had passed for leaders of the governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, to surrender.

“The last peaceful gate which had remained for the TPLF clique to walk through have now been firmly closed,” he said on Twitter.

Humanitarian organizations are warning of large civilian casualties and waves of refugees in a conflict that threatens to destabilize not just Ethiopia, but the entire Horn of Africa region.

Hundreds of people have been reported dead in the fighting, and 40,000 refugees have crossed into neighboring Sudan, according to the United Nations. But with communications shut off and access to the region blocked, there have been few reliable reports about the impact of the fighting.

The United Nations has warned of fuel and food shortages in Tigray. And the fighting has drawn concern from all across the world, even eliciting warnings of potential ethnic cleansing and genocide from the United Nations.

Abiy, who was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize in part for mediating conflicts in the Horn of Africa, has shunned diplomacy, saying that Ethiopia is “capable and willing to resolve this situation in accordance with its laws and its international obligations.”

The push that he announced Thursday is a turning point in a military operation that began early this month after Abiy accused the Tigray region’s leaders of assaulting a government defense post and trying to steal artillery and military equipment.

The national government and the powerful regional administration in Tigray have been at loggerheads since 2018, when Abiy rose to power and their decadeslong political and economic clout diminished.

Even though the Tigray make up only an estimated 6% of the country’s population of more than 110 million people, they remained at the center of power and money after a military regime was overthrown in 1991.