Ex-innovator of Ethiopia's vows 'extended resistance'
The former ruling party in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray is focused on "extended resistance", according to an audio message purporting to be from its head, who accused federal government forces and their allies of rape and looting.
The comments related to Debretsion Gebremichael will be the initially public statement from him since Nov. 11, although he was in touch with reporters until the first of all week of December.The recording was posted on the Facebook page of a media outlet affiliated with the former ruling party the Tigray People's Libera-tion Front (TPLF), which has been battling the government since Nov. 4.
"They (the government) have temporary military dominance," said the recording, alleging rights abuses just like rape and looting, studies of which are also highlighted by the US."We are involved in extended resistance." Reuters was struggling to independently verify the authenticity or day of the audio.Primary Minister Abiy Ahmed's spokeswoman Billene Seyoum and the head of the federal government taskforce on Tigray, Redwan Hussein, didn't react to calls and messages looking for comment.
Abiy claimed success against the TPLF in late November immediately after his forces captured the regional capital Mekelle. But reviews of low-level fighting possess continued.Thousands of individuals have died, hundreds of thousands have already been forced from their homes and there are actually shortages of food, water and medicine over the region of more than 5 million people. "
The cities and rural regions of Tigray are being bombarded day and night by heavy artilleries," Debretsion said. Information from all sides are actually difficult to verify because the government offers largely sealed off Tigray from journalists and foreign help workers. Telecommunications to numerous areas aren't working. Debretsion known as on Tigrayans abroad to contribute money and time to supporting the fighters and international nations to condemn the Ethiopian government, stating Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki should be charged in an international court.
Dozens of eyewitnesses experience said Eritrean troops can be found in Tigray to aid Ethiopian forces, though both nations deny that. Abiy's federal government says the TPLF provoked the conflict by attacking army bases in Tigray and that the federal government is sending aid.On Wednesday, a U.S. STATE DEPT. spokesman called for humanitarian usage of Tigray, discussing credible reports of looting, sexual violence and assaults in refugee camps.
