ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday urged Tigrayan rebels to surrender, claiming government forces were nearing victory just one week after he vowed to lead military operations at the front.
“The youth of Tigray is perishing like leaves. Knowing it is defeated, it is being led by one who does not have a clear vision or plan,” Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, said in comments aired on state media.
“It should surrender today to the Ethiopian National Defence Force, to the special forces, to the militias and to the people.”
Tuesday’s footage was the latest in a series of clips showing Abiy, in uniform with soldiers, in what appeared to be the northeastern region of Afar.
The area has been the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group tries to seize control of a critical highway that supplies the capital Addis Ababa.
On Sunday state media claimed the army controlled the lowland Afar town of Chifra, and Abiy said Tuesday such gains would be replicated to the west, in Amhara region.
“The enemy has been defeated. We scored an unthinkable victory with the eastern command in one day ... Now in the west we will repeat this victory,” he said.
The announcement last week that Abiy, a former lieutenant colonel in the military, would head to the battlefield came after the TPLF claimed to control Shewa Robit, a town just 220 km (135 miles) northeast of Addis Ababa by road.
Fears of a rebel march on the capital have prompted the US, France, the UK and other countries to urge their citizens to leave Ethiopia as soon as possible, though Abiy’s government says TPLF gains are overstated and the city is secure.
A TPLF spokesman on Monday dismissed Abiy’s deployment as a “circus” involving “farcical war games.”
War broke out between the two sides in November 2020, with Abiy sending troops into the northernmost Tigray region to topple the TPLF — a move he said came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps.
The fighting has killed thousands, displaced more than 2 million and driven hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions, according to UN estimates.
Diplomats led by Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, are trying to broker a ceasefire, though there has been little evident progress so far.
Ethiopia PM claims war gains, urges rebels to ‘surrender’
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Ethiopia PM claims war gains, urges rebels to ‘surrender’
- Fears of a rebel march on the capital have prompted some countries to urge their citizens to leave as soon as possible
Minister walks out of film festival after accusations of German role in Gaza ‘genocide’
- Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib said the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel”
BERLIN: A German minister walked out of the awards ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival after a prize-winning director accused Germany of complicity in the “genocide” committed by Israel in Gaza.
Social Democratic Environment Minister Carsten Schneider left the ceremony on Saturday evening because of “unacceptable” remarks, his ministry said.
Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, who picked up a prize for Best First Feature Award with his “Chronicles from the Siege,” said in his speech that the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognize this truth.”
Schneider was the only member of the German government attending the ceremony though he was not representing it, his ministry told AFP.
The Ministry of Culture, contacted by AFP to find out the reason for the absence of its minister Wolfram Weimer, did not respond immediately.
A leading member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party, Alexander Hoffmann, denounced what he said were “repugnant scenes” of “antisemitic” during the ceremony.
“The accusations of genocide, the antisemitic outbursts, and the threats against Germany at the Berlinale are absolutely unacceptable,” Hoffmann, head of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian party allied with Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, told the Bundestag.
The CDU mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner told newspaper Bild that “The open display of hatred toward Israel is in direct contradiction with what this festival represents.”
The backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East led to a tense 76th edition of the festival.
More than 80 film professionals criticized the Berlinale’s “silence” on the war in Gaza in an open letter, accusing the festival of censoring artists “who reject the genocide” they believe Israel has committed in Gaza.
Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after jury president Wim Wenders said cinema should “stay out of politics” when asked about Gaza.
