US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday, stressing the need for all parties to commit to an immediate and indefinite ceasefire in the northern Tigray region, the State Department said. The Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire last week after its troops pulled out of the Tigray capital of Mekelle in what it called a strategic withdrawal. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) dismissed that truce as a joke and said it had driven the government out of the city. Abiy's government has been battling the TPLF since early November, when it accused the then-governing party of Tigray of attacking military bases across the region. The commander of rebel forces in Tigray on Tuesday called for a negotiated ceasefire with the Ethiopian government and a political solution to the conflict, saying the government could not win the war.

Source: Ethiopian News July 07, 2021 06:50 UTC