JIGJIGA (Halbeeg News) – The president of Somali regional state in Ethiopia, Mustafa Omer Agjar has threatened to dispatch forces to Addis Ababa to back the federal government troops against rebel forces.
Addressing traditional elders and business people in Jigjiga, the administrative capital of the state, Agjar emphasized his government’s plan to protect the capital from rebels should they advance and take over the capital Addis Ababa.
“If you hear that TPLF has taken over Addis Ababa, you will also hear those Somali Special forces (liyuu) will be fighting against TPLF in Addis Ababa. We will protect our region and people at all costs,” Omer said.
The remarks of Agjar comes just days after Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, appealed to citizens to take up arms against the TPLF as the rebels push further into Amhara territory. Ethiopia’s central government has designated the TPLF as a terrorist organization.
The TPLF maintains that it is a legitimate political group.
In a post made on Facebook, Abiy Ahmed said that the TPLF was “pushing the country to its demise,” and he urged citizens to “organize and march through [any] legal manner with every weapon and power… to prevent, reverse and bury the terrorist TPLF”.
Facebook later removed the post for violating its policies against inciting violence.
By conservative estimates, over 100,000 people have been killed since the war broke out last November, and millions have been displaced.
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