Tens of thousands of residents in Addis Ababa Thursday rallied to protest the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and show solidarity to the Ethiopian National Defense Forces.
The huge rally came after the national defense forces of Ethiopia Wednesday said it routed out thousands of troops of the rebel force which was heading to control Ethiopian-Djibouti trade route.
The government said the TPLF — which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before April 2018 — had crossed a “red line” and attacked two federal military bases, which the party denies.
Last week, the TPLF launched a military offensive in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, and this week they took their attack to the Afar region of Ethiopia, where they reportedly suffered a crushing defeat.
The Northern Command bases of Ethiopian Defense Force were attacked on November 24 , 2020, by the TPLF forces in unsuspecting circumstances. Thousands of the Ethiopian Defense Force members were rounded up and savagely massacred while they were sleeping.
The army was reorganized after the attack and defeated TPLF forces, estimated to be close to three hundreds thousands, within a matter of two weeks, and controlled the capital Mekelle in December. More than 40 TPLF leaders are in custody, and about ten were killed during the operation.
The army withdrew from the region after the Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire at the end of June 2021. According to the Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Defense Force, General Berhanu Jula who appeared on state TV this week, the army is ready to receive orders from the government, and will enter the Tigray region again if needed.
MG/abj/APA