Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Saturday in a video claiming to show it on the battlefield that the army would “
destroy
” the rebels in Tigray, with whom his government has been at war for more than a year.
To read also Ethiopia: Abiy Ahmed would have taken the head of the "counter-offensive" against the rebels
The announcement this week of his departure to the front to carry out military operations in particular attracted the support of artists and athletes, including the legendary marathoner Haile Gebreselassie, who took part in a ceremony on Saturday in Addis Ababa, the capital on which threaten to march the rebels.
"
You are completely destroying the enemy, there is no turning back without victory,
" Abiy told the military, in a 34-minute video posted on Twitter on Saturday. by the Prime Minister's office.
"
We are going to win, the enemy is dispersing, there are areas that we must control,
" added the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "
Until we destroy the enemy, there will be no of rest
”.
On Wednesday, the authorities announced on state media that Mr. Abiy had left the management of "
current affairs
" to his Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen.
Another state outlet on Friday aired what it said were the first images of Mr. Abiy, a former lieutenant colonel, in uniform, at the front line.
In addition to promising to "
bury
" the enemy, the Prime Minister assured that the army had taken control of the town of Kassagita (in the Afar region, which borders eastern Tigray) and in particular planned to resume nearby the district of Chifra, further north.
These statements come at the end of a week when the rebels of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) claimed major territorial gains, claiming to be 220 km from Addis Ababa.
The TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for 30 years before Mr. Abiy came to power in 2018, has allied itself with other armed groups including the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), based in Oromia, Ethiopia's largest region surrounding the capital.
Communications are cut off in combat zones and access to independent media is restricted, making it difficult to verify information.
The government claims that the progress of the TPLF is exaggerated, denouncing sensationalist media coverage and security recommendations from embassies deemed alarmist.
