Abiy defends frontline action, declares ‘victory’ over TPLF

Addis Ababa. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday defended his frontline actions and declared ‘victory’ over the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
Instead, his Office said the Premier’s actions did not negate the need for peace, just that his forces were pushing back against a group he labelled terrorist.
“The Prime Minister’s decision to join the army in the battlefield does not mean a change of the government’s position for a peaceful solution to the conflict in principle. Rather averting the conspiracy of terrorist organisations in collaboration with their foreign allies,”
“His decision has boosted troop morale and emboldened the people of Ethiopia to resist and push back the threat of a terrorist organisation. Great strides have been made in enforcing the TPLF to relinquish their occupation of key areas, particularly Kasagita, Chifra, Burqa,” Abiy’s Office added.
Abiy also claimed victory in Mezezo, Molale, Shoa Robit, Rasa areas liberated from TPLF forces, although there was no independent proof yet.
A week after he announced he will be at the frontline, Abiy spoke for the first time about the progress on the frontline, since he first recorded a video on scene.
On Tuesday, he claimed the Ethiopian forces had conquered some areas previously controlled by the opposition group days after joining his forces in the battle fields.  
“Government of Ethiopia has achieved decisive military victory over the terrorist group and regained control of areas which were infiltrated by TPLF. Measures against the terrorist group will continue until TPLF no longer becomes a threat to national peace and security,” his Office added.
His move to join the forces, and rally youths to defend their country prompted a US-led international call for a diplomatic solution and an immediate ceasefire. Washington’s Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman had said last week there was no solution through military means.
But even as  he declared victory, TPLF declared his government as a ‘dying regime’.  Getachew Reda, TPLF’s spokesman accused the national forces of bombing a crucial hydroelectric dam on Tekeze river, plunging Tigray capital Makele in blackout as the dam was main supplier of power there.
“That the Regime in Addis Ababa will do what it can to destroy anything that could benefit the people of Tigray is nowhere more clear,” he said on Tuesday.
This is the second time Abiy has declared the war, initially only known as a law enforcement operation, in Tigray, only for the conflict to continue. When the national forces first launched attacks on TPLF in November last year, he declared an end to the operation five weeks later. But the fighting continued.
By late June, the rebels had retaken most of Tigray, including its capital Mekele. The TPLF has in the recent weeks been claiming they were on a march to Addis, raising the urgency in calls for ceasefire.
On Wednesday last week, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a swift end to the fighting, comments he made while on a visit to Colombia to mark the fifth anniversary of a peace deal between the government and former FARC rebels.