The Beatles are overrated. That’s our fault, not theirs.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
said his foes had been defeated and promised to recapture territory in the
region of Amhara from rebellious Tigrayan forces after praising military
victories against the Tigrayans in the region of Afar.
Footage from the front that aired on
state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting on Tuesday showed Abiy wearing military
jungle fatigues and cap and scanning the horizon with binoculars.
"The East Command secured an
unimaginable victory in just one day of planning and a day and half long
fighting," he said. "Now we will repeat that victory in this front.”
Fana said he was addressing troops
on the frontlines of the Ethiopian conflict, near Gashena in Amhara region.
Reuters could not independently verify his location.
"The enemy is defeated. Our
remaining task is to rout the enemy and destroy them," he told soldiers
assembled under a clump of trees.
Abiy, whose army has been battling
forces from the northern region of Tigray for more than a year, said he was
headed to the frontline last week to supervise operations.
State media reported over the
weekend that the army recaptured the town of Chifra in Afar region and other
areas, after Abiy arrived. Reuters had no way to independently verify the
announcement.
"Tigrayan youth are falling
like leaves. They should know that they have been defeated and surrender
starting from today," Abiy, a Nobel Peace laureate, said in the footage.
Getachew Reda, the spokesman for the
Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the main force fighting the federal
government, could not be reached for comment.
On Monday, Reda accused Abiy of
engaging in "farcical war games".
The Tigrayan forces have threatened
to push into the capital Addis Ababa or to try to cut a corridor linking
landlocked Ethiopia with the region's largest port.
The TPLF dominated national politics
until Abiy took power in 2018. Since the conflict eruped a year ago, the war in
northern Ethiopia has killed thousands and displaced millions in Africa's
second most populous nation.
Tigrayan forces were initially
beaten back, but recaptured most of the region in July and pushed into
neighbouring Amhara and Afar, displacing hundreds of thousands more people.