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Reuters

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed gave Tigrayan regional forces 72 hours to surrender before the military begins an offensive on the regional capital of Mekelle.
“We urge you to surrender peacefully within 72 hours, recognising that you are at the point of no return,” Abiy said in a message posted on Twitter on Sunday evening.
Tigrayan forces could not immediately be reached for comment.
A military spokesman said earlier that advancing Ethiopian troops plan to surround Mekelle with tanks and may shell the city to force surrender.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is refusing to surrender its rule of the northern region, said its forces were digging trenches and standing firm.
Reuters could not confirm the latest statements on the war. Claims by all sides are hard to verify because phone and internet communication has been down.
Abiy’s federal troops have taken a string of towns during aerial bombardments and ground fighting, and are now aiming for Mekelle, a highland city of about 500,000 people where the rebels are based.
The conflict erupted on November 4 and has killed hundreds, possibly thousands, and has sent more than 30,000 refugees into neighbouring Sudan. Rockets have been fired by rebels into neighbouring Amhara region and across the border into the nation of Eritrea.
Desperation and anger grow in Ethiopia’s Tigray as millions face food, cash shortages amid fighting
Foreign nations have urged talks, but Abiy has pressed on with the offensive.
In his statement on Sunday evening, Abiy said that during what he terms a law enforcement operation “all the necessary precautionary measures have been taken to ensure that civilians are not harmed”.
Referring to the TPLF, he said that “all that the clique is left with is the fort that they have set up in Mekelle and empty pride.”
Save yourselves from any artillery attacks and free yourselves from the junta … After that, there will be no mercy
Colonel Dejene Tsegaye
He said the people of Tigray had had enough of what he said was TPLF violence against them, and appealed to the people of Mekelle to stand with the federal troops in “bringing this treasonous group” to justice.
Abiy accuses the Tigrayan leaders of revolting against central authority and starting the conflict by attacking federal troops in the town of Dansha on November 4.
The rebels say his government has marginalised Tigrayans since taking office two years ago, removing them from senior roles in government and the military and detaining many on rights abuse and corruption charges.


Earlier on Sunday, military spokesman Colonel Dejene Tsegaye told state-run Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation that “the next phases are the decisive part of the operation, which is to encircle Mekelle using tanks”.
He said the TPLF leadership was “shielding itself within the public” and said: “We want to send a message to the public in Mekelle to save yourselves from any artillery attacks and free yourselves from the junta … After that, there will be no mercy.”
A spokeswoman from the prime minister’s office later said Dejene meant there would be “no mercy” for the TPLF leadership rather than for civilians.
TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael told Reuters by text message that his forces were resisting a push from the south while also fighting near the northern town of Adigrat after it fell to federal troops.
“Encircling Mekelle is their plan but yet they couldn’t,” he said. “On south front, they couldn’t move an inch for more than one week. They (are) sending waves after waves but to no avail.”

Abiy drew plaudits for opening up Ethiopia’s closed economy and repressive political system after taking office in 2018. However, rights groups say his government has carried out mass arrests after outbreaks of violence and detained journalists this year.
Abiy won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for ending a two-decade stand-off with Eritrea. The awarding committee in Oslo last week made a rare foray into the activities of laureates by urging peace in Tigray.
Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the government’s task force on Tigray, said there was still time for TPLF leaders to surrender. “The government will take maximum restraint not to cause major risks for civilians,” he added.
While many Tigrayan special forces and militiamen had surrendered or scattered around Adigrat, resistance was stronger on the southern front, Redwan said, where rebels have dug up roads, destroyed bridges and booby-trapped roads.
The task force added that the army had also taken the small town of Idaga Hamus on the road from Adigrat to Mekelle.


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War and conflict

Ethiopia’s prime minister Abiy Ahmed gives Tigray forces 72 hours to surrender regional capital

An Ethiopian refugee carries her child near the Setit river on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Hamdayet village in eastern Kassala state. Photo: Reuters

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali poses for a picture on January 28, 2019. The Ethiopian government gave the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) 72 hours on November 22, 2020, to surrender and end its rebellion.

An Ethiopian refugee who fled the fighting in the Tigray region poses for a picture near his camel on the bank of a border river with Sudan, in the Hamdayit border area of Sudan's eastern Kassala state, on November 22, 2020. - Ethiopia's northern Tigray region has been rocked by bloody fighting since November 4, when Ethiopia announced the launch of military operations there. The ongoing conflict is reported to have killed hundreds of people and forced thousands more to flee into neighbouring Sudan. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)

Desperation and anger grow in Ethiopia’s Tigray as millions face food, cash shortages amid fighting

Ethiopian refugees at a camp in eastern Sudan’s Qadarif region. Photo: AP

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in Tigray province are pictured at the Um Rakuba camp in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province, on November 19, 2020. - Sudan -- one of the world's poorest countries, now faced with the massive influx -- has reopened the camp, 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the border. It once housed refugees who fled Ethiopia's 1983-85 famine that killed over a million people. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)

An Ethiopian girl who fled fighting in the Tigray Region sits by a plastic jerrycan at the Village 8 border reception center in Sudan's eastern Gedaref State, on November 20, 2020. - The outbreak of conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region has left some 2.3 million children in urgent need of assistance and thousands more at risk in refugee camps, the UN children's agency said. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)

Ethiopian refugees who fled fighting in the Tigray region stand around a woman who collapsed at the Village 8 border reception centre in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref state. Photo: AFP

WHO chief Tedros denies Ethiopia’s claims he backs Tigray rebels in conflict

Ethiopian troops near the border of the Tigray and Amhara regions of Ethiopia. Photo: AP

An Ethiopian man who fled war in Tigray region, sleeps under a tree at the Um-Rakoba camp on the Sudan-Ethiopia border in Al-Qadarif state, Sudan November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization. File photo: AP

Civilians in Ethiopia conflict describe horror scenes: ‘bodies dismembered by explosions’

Ethiopian troops near the border of the Tigray and Amhara regions of Ethiopia. Photo: Ethiopian News Agency via AP

Ethiopian migrants, who fled intense fighting in their homeland, gather in the Um Raquba camp in the town of Gadaref, east of Khartoum, on November 15, 2020, after being transported from the border reception centre. - Around 25,000 Ethiopians fleeing conflict in the Tigray region have crossed into neighbouring Sudan, state news agency SUNA reported, as the UN said it was working to find them shelter. (Photo by Ebrahim HAMID / AFP)

Map locates the Tigray area

Ethiopians who fled fighting in Tigray region prepare to cross the Setit River on the Sudan-Ethiopia border. Photo: Reuters

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The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) said its forces were digging trenches and standing firm
A military spokesman said advancing Ethiopian troops plan to surround Mekelle and may shell the city to force surrender



The conflict erupted on November 4 killing hundreds, possibly thousands, and has sent more than 30,000 refugees into Sudan.
