The leader of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Debretsion Gebremichael has urged the Ethiopian Prime Minister to ‘stop the madness’, amid alleged killing of civilians.
Gebremichael, speaking to the Associated Press, accused Ethiopian forces of killing civilians and looting in Tigray.
He denied Tigray has been taken over by the Ethiopian forces and asserted that fighting continues on all fronts.
This is coming two days after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that the Tigrayan capital of Mekelle has been captured by Ethiopia without the killing of any civilian.
The Tigray leader however insisted on Monday that the battle is far from ending, saying “we are sure we’ll win.”
He said there are still several missiles in the hands of the TPLF forces and they can use them whenever they want.
While he didn’t state the estimate of civilian casualties, he said the number is high.
“Civilian casualties are so high. The suffering is greater and greater every day,”
Gebremichael further accused Ethiopia of committing genocidal killings in Tigray.
Recall that the Ethiopian PM on Saturday, said Mekelle, the capital of Tigray has been captured. He added that no civilian was harmed in the offensive.
UN officials have complained about the lack of humanitarian access to Tigrayan civilians. Officials have asked warring parties to allow access to the refugee camps, as food supply is running low.
There are more than 43,000 Ethiopian refugees in Sudan at the moment, with hundreds of thousands also in Ethiopia.
Economists have warned that a war in Ethiopia may be catastrophic to the Horn of Africa.
Ethiopia has a population of 115million people, the second largest in Africa.