Skip to main content
Cloudy icon
50ยบ
No description available

Ethiopia warns Tigray residents that 'anything can happen'

Read full article: Ethiopia warns Tigray residents that 'anything can happen'

NAIROBI โ€“ Ethiopiaโ€™s government is again warning residents of the besieged capital of the embattled Tigray region as the clock ticks on a 72-hour ultimatum before a military assault, saying โ€œanything can happen.โ€Senior official Redwan Hussein told reporters Monday that the Tigray regional leaders are โ€œhiding out in a densely populated city; the slightest strike would end up losing lives.โ€Human rights groups and others were alarmed over the weekend when Ethiopiaโ€™s military warned civilians in the Tigray capital, Mekele, that there would be โ€œno mercyโ€ if they donโ€™t โ€œsave themselvesโ€ before the offensive to flush out defiant regional leaders. Amnesty International warns that deliberately attacking civilians and civilian objects โ€œis prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitutes war crimes.โ€Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopiaโ€™s Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister, issued a 72-hour ultimatum Sunday for the leaders of the Tigray Peopleโ€™s Liberation Front, or TPLF, to surrender. Redwan said that Mekele, a city of around 500,000 people, is now encircled at a distance of about 50 kilometers (30 miles), and with rougher terrain left behind โ€œwhat remains is the plain land, easier for tanks.โ€He added, โ€œby providing a brute fact, it is letting people to understand the reality and make the right choice.โ€ Ethiopiaโ€™s government is urging Mekele residents to separate themselves from the TPLF leaders in time.