(ANSA) - ADDIS ABABA, NOV 17 - The premier of Ethiopia, AhmedAbiy, has announced that the military offensive in the autonomous region of Tigré, which has already caused hundreds of deaths and the escape of about 25,000 civilians sheltered in neighboring Sudan, is entering the next days in its "final phase".
The military operation of the federal army was launched on November 4 after a crescendo of tension and clashes with the forces belonging to the separatist party Liberation Front of the Tigrinya People (TPLF).
Forces which, according to the Addis Ababa government, are now "dying".
Prime Minister Abiy, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2019 for the agreement that ended the decades-long conflict with Eritrea, said that an ultimatum was issued to the Tigrinya militiamen to rebel and not be "a tool in the hands of the greedy local junta" del Tigré and surrender to the federal forces.
An ultimatum that lasted three days and has now "expired," Abiy said.
(HANDLE).