Photographer: Eduardo Soteras / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Eduardo Soteras / AFP / Getty Images
The former leader of Ethigria’s troubled Tigray region has vowed to continue a months-long battle with the federal government in a conflict that displaced hundreds of thousands, killed thousands and threatened to destabilize the Horn of Africa.
“Let our enemies and friends know that until we achieve victory, we will not go anywhere,” said Debretsion Gebremichael, president of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. He spoke on a recorded phone interview late Saturday aired on an online television channel, Dimitsi Weyane.
Several senior leaders of the TPLF have been killed, including former Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and others arrested. This is the first time in almost two months that Debretsion, who is wanted by the government on charges of terrorism and treason, is being spoken to in public.
Bloomberg could not contact Debretsion independently, but a senior TPLF member who spoke for security reasons on condition of anonymity confirmed that it was him. Thousands of Tigray fans on social media also expressed relief when they heard him speak.
Debretsion called on the people of Tigray to continue the struggle with “greater determination and without internal divisions”, accusing Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the Amhara forces and the Eritrean forces of plundering women raped and killed young men.
Billiy Seyoum, a spokesperson for Abiy, did not immediately address the recording.
Federal troops responding to an alleged attack on November 4 entered the region and overthrew a dissident ruling party that had put itself in opposition to Abiy since coming to power in April 2018. Although the government on November 28 a announced victory, the battle in Tigray continued nonetheless.