The Ethiopian government has warned that the expansion of conflict to parts of the country by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) would push it to change its defensive stance if humanitarian overtures for a peaceful resolution are unreciprocated.
Ethiopia in late June announced a unilateral ceasefire in the country’s conflict-affected northernmost Tigray regional state, noting that the move followed a request by the Tigray’s interim administration that was assigned by the Federal Government after the ouster of the TPLF, which used to rule the region.
The Ethiopian government however said late Friday that the situation in Tigray and the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire declared by the government, including the need for an all-inclusive national dialogue, have been the major preoccupying issues recently.
“Regrettably, the TPLF has failed to reciprocate,” the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, adding that the group “chose to launch new attacks in neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, which left more than 300,000 people displaced and thousands dead.”
“Cognizant of its moral, legal, and political obligation to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state, the federal government is being pushed to mobilize and deploy the entire defensive capability of the state if its humanitarian overtures for a peaceful resolution of the conflict remain unreciprocated,” it said.
Ethiopia’s lower house, the House of People’s Representatives, had previously designated the TPLF a terrorist organization.
