Tigray unrest: Ethiopian PM rejects ‘international interference’

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday said he rejected international “interference” in Ethiopia’s affairs, hours before a deadline for Tigray’s rebellious leaders to surrender or face an assault on their capital.

Abiy, the winner of last year’s Nobel Prize, late Sunday gave the Tigray People’s Liberation Front 72 hours to surrender, an ultimatum rejected by the leader of the dissident northern region, who has said his people are “ready to die” for their homeland.

As the clock ticked down, the UN Security Council held its first meeting on the three-week-old crisis, with particular concern for civilians in the regional capital Mekele.

Ethiopian forces say they are encircling the city with tanks ahead of an assault on the TPLF, and have urged its half-million residents to leave.

Rights groups have warned that attacking the city could constitute a war crime. The UN, US, EU and others have urged restraint and called for an immediate halt to hostilities.

Abiy has resisted calls for mediation and insists the “law enforcement operation” against the TPLF is entering its decisive final stage.

In a statement Wednesday, he said Ethiopia appreciated the concern but stressed his government was “very much capable” of resolving the matter on its own.

“While we consider the concerns and advice of our friends, we reject any interference in our internal affairs,” Abiy said.

“We therefore respectfully urge the international community to refrain from any unwelcome and unlawful acts of interference and respect the fundamental principles of non-intervention under international law.”

The African Union, headquartered in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, has dispatched three former African presidents as special envoys to try and broker talks.

A spokesman for an Ethiopian committee handling the conflict said Monday the government would meet the envoys “as a matter of respect” but flatly ruled out negotiations with the TPLF.

Jake Sullivan, the newly-appointed national security advisor to US President-elect Joe Biden, on Wednesday, urged Ethiopia’s warring parties to immediately begin dialogue through AU mediators.