Ethiopia has spoken out for the first time since the Tigray people liberation front fighters have taken control of the Tigray regional capital of Mekelle.
The government has said it withdrew its troops from the Tigrean region for political reasons, not military, according to Ethiopian Deputy Foreign Minister Redwan Hussein.
He added that if the Ethiopian federal forces were ordered to retake it, they would be able to capture it within weeks, as they did in the TPLF in November 2020, which was stronger and better organized than they are now.
The TPLF has said in recent days that the Tigray region has been taken over by military forces, who have used force against those present.
The war in the Tigray region has cost the country more than $ 2 billion in the past eight months, most of it in aid, according to the government.
Ethiopian Deputy Foreign Minister Redwan Hussien added that 70% of the humanitarian aid delivered to Tigray had been provided by the Ethiopian federal government, sending aid to the war-torn population.
The minister stressed that the government’s claim that the war in Tigray ended last November was real, despite the fact that they were waging a war against the Tigray opposition, which he accused of using the population as a safe haven.
