Tigray rebels grab UNESCO site of Lalibela in Ethiopia’s Amhara region

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 07:56 am

The months-long conflict in Ethiopia faced a dangerous escalation on Friday, as an Amhara regional official said that Amhara forces would launch an offensive against Tigrayan forces – on Saturday – in the region and having control of a town hosting a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sema Tiruneh, the Amhara region’s head of peace and security, said, “This is the time for the Amhara people to defeat the terrorist group”. 

“Everyone should come forth and defend themselves.”

“We’ll extend a warm welcome,” said Tigray forces’ spokesman, Getachew Reda, in response. 

 The conflict looms to destabilize Africa’s second-most populous country – where hundreds of thousands of people have already been killed in the nine-month war.

Getachew said Tigray forces have traversed into the Amhara region and the Afar region in the past few weeks in a bid to break the blockade that Ethiopia’s government has imposed on Tigray. 

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People continue to face famine conditions, and the United States and the United Nations, this week, sent high-level officials to urge more access to aid to Ethiopia.

“We have to deal with the ones still shooting,” Getachew said. “Even if it takes marching to Addis to quieten the guns, we will. But I hope we’ll not have to.” 

“We’re definitely not after the people of Amhara or Amhara territory. As long as they are not firing at our people, we have no problem,” Getachew said.

“Preparations are underway to reverse these moves, and an offensive will begin tomorrow. Freedom doesn’t come cheap. People should come forward and defend themselves.”

On the other hand, Ethiopia’s foreign ministry on Friday warned that the Tigray forces’ invasion into the Amhara and Afar regions in recent weeks “is putting the federal government’s patience at a test and pushing it to change its mood, which has been taken for the sake of the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire”.

The foreign ministry said the incursions had displaced some 300,000 people.