Photographer: Eduardo Soteras / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Eduardo Soteras / AFP / Getty Images
The former leader of the Tigray region of Ethiopia has promised to continue a several-month battle with the federal government in a conflict that displaced hundreds of thousands, killed thousands and threatened to destabilize the Horn of Africa.
“Tell our enemies and friends that we will not go anywhere until we achieve victory,” said Debretsion Gebremichael, who was president of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. He spoke on a recorded phone interview aired late Saturday on an online television channel, Dimitsi Weyane.
Several senior TPLF leaders were killed, including former Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and others arrested. It is the first time in almost two months that Debretsion, wanted by the government on charges of terrorism and treason, has spoken publicly.
Bloomberg could not contact Debretsion independently, but a senior member of the TPLF who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons confirmed that he was. Thousands of Tigray supporters on social media also expressed relief when they heard him speak.
The degeneration called on the people of Tigray to continue fighting with “greater determination and without internal divisions” and accused Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Amhara forces and Eritrean forces of robbery, rape of women and killing of young people.
Billi Seyoum, Abiy’s spokeswoman, did not immediately address the recording.
Federal troops who responded to an alleged November 4 attack entered the region and overthrew a dissident ruling party that has opposed Abiy since he came to power in April 2018. Although the government announced victory on November 28, fighting in Tigray did take place, though. continued.