The Ethiopian government has said it will continue its fight against the Tigray rebels, despite growing international calls for a ceasefire.
A statement on social media said Ethiopia was waging a war over its existence as a country and that it would not be destroyed by foreign propaganda.
African countries, the European Union and the United States have once again called for a ceasefire, with talks to end the year-long war.
Jeffrey Feltman, the US special envoy to the Horn of Africa, is on a visit to the capital Addis Ababa to put pressure on a peaceful solution.
The Ethiopian government says its troops are close to victory, but the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels continue to take steps to attack the capital, which has in recent days taken over major cities.
How did the war start?
Fighting has intensified since June this year when rebels retook large parts of Tigray, including its capital, Mekelle.
They are now part of the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) which is affiliated with the TPLF and other local armed groups. The TPLF recently announced its alliance with another Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) group.
The TPLF was the ruling party in the Tigray region before it was overthrown by Ethiopian government forces in November 2020.
TPLF leaders clash with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed over political reforms, despite TPLF’s capture of Tigray state military bases in the north was the trigger for the government’s attack on November 4, 2020.
The Ethiopian government says the TPLF is a terrorist organization, but the TPLF claims to be the legitimate government of the Tigray region.
