Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed says he will now lead his troops “from the battle front” as the year-long conflict moves closer to the capital, Addis Ababa.
“Starting tomorrow, I will mobilise to the front to lead the defence forces,” Mr Abiy, said in a statement posted on Twitter late on Monday.
“Those who want to be among the Ethiopian children, who will be hailed by history, rise up for your country today. Let’s meet at the front,” he added.
It came after the ruling Prosperity Party’s executive committee met on Monday to discuss the war. The defence minister told local media after the meeting that security forces would be embarking on a “different action” over the conflict.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has dismissed Mr Abiy’s statement. Its spokesman, Getachew Reda, said that “our forces won’t relent on their inexorable advance towards bringing [Abiy’s] chokehold on our people to an end”.
Since last November, the government and rebel forces have been engaged in a war that started in Tigray and spread into neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions.
Special envoys from the African Union and the US have been trying to broker a ceasefire in recent days but there has been little progress so far.
The conflict has killed thousands of people, forced millions from their homes and hundreds of thousands others are facing famine.
BBC News Africa