Ethiopia claims TPLF ‘no longer an existential threat’ despite Tigray defeat

ADDIS ABABA – The Ethiopian government is claiming that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the former ruling party in Tigray, is no longer an existential threat despite a devastating defeat in the capital Mekelle on Monday.

Speaking during a press conference in Addis Ababa to address the issue in Tigray, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Redwan Hussein who is also the spokesman for the Ethiopian government’s task force for Tigray said the federal government can easily enter Tigray if it wants to, but he said the government was giving chance on humanitarian basis.

“If it is required, we can easily enter to Mekelle and we can enter in less than three weeks,” Redwan told reporters, adding that the government met the objectives of the Tigray operation and “and despite its propaganda, TPLF is no longer an existential threat to the well-being of the nation.”

“Although TPLF’s capacity to launch conventional war was neutralized within three weeks and many insurgents were decimated through time, the government declared the ceasefire because the Ethiopian army was not ready to exchange fires with people in Tigray who have been misled by the ethnically charged propaganda of the TPLF,” he adds.

The senior government official said a ceasefire declared unilaterally by the federal government “would help the people of Tigray to reflect on the pros and cons of colluding with a terrorist group to fight the Ethiopian troops who were providing protection and humanitarian aid in the region.”

“The law enforcement operation also costs the government about 100 billion birr for rehabilitation and humanitarian works, said the state minister adding that the ceasefire is a pragmatic approach to avoid this financial quagmire too.”