Ethiopia declares state of emergency as TPLF threatens advance to Addis

The announcement was made via State-owned media FanaBC on Tuesday, which said the directive is effective immediately.

It comes after Tigrayan fighters said they were making advances in northern Ethiopia. They claimed they had captured the cities of Dessie and Kombolcha in Amhara. 

However, the Ethiopian government denied the claim.

But in Dessie, residents told Nation.Africa that they had seen TPLF fighters entering the city which has been the centre of fighting for weeks. Reuters had quoted rebel spokesman Getachew Reda as saying that Tigray forces had pushed government forces out of Dessie and took control of the city.

Reda said that TPLF was “firmly in control of Kombolcha“, an industrial city only 20 kilometres from Dessie city. Kombolcha lies on the main highway that leads to Addis Ababa.

TPLF forces had indicated that they are considering advancing further south to the country’s capital. 

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed recently urged Ethiopians in Addis Ababa to take up arms and prepare to defend the city.

Fighting between government forces and rebels has escalated in recent weeks. The Ethiopian Air Force bombarded Mekelle, Tigray with airstrikes. It said it was targeting weapons sites used by TPLF.

Fighting between the federal government and TPLF, once a dominant part of the Ethiopia’s former ruling party, first erupted in November last year. 

The war has killed thousands and displaced millions.

Additional reporting by Tesfa-Alem Tekle