Conflicts & War

Senior politician linked to Tigrayan rebellion surrenders to Ethiopian forces

Addis Ababa, Dec 2 (efe-epa) – The former Speaker of the House of Federation of the Ethiopian Parliament, Keria Ibrahim, who is also linked to the rebel ruling party in the Tigray region, has surrendered to the Ethiopian Army.

“One of nine central committee leaders of the TPLF, Keria Ibrahim, has surrendered to federal forces,” said the government’s Tigray taskforce on Tuesday via Twitter.

Ibrahim served as Speaker of the House of Federation from May 2018 to June 2020, when she resigned in protest against the postponement of general elections scheduled for August due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ibrahim, who is responsible for women’s affairs in the region, has been facing an arrest warrant issued by federal police last month.

The warrant targets nearly a hundred Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) leaders and military personnel for alleged crimes of treason, corruption and human rights violations.

This surrender comes after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali declared on Saturday that the central government had gained total control of Tigray’s capital city, Mekele.

According to the prime minister, the capture of Mekele marked an end to the final phase of the armed offensive that he ordered on 4 November against the TPLF in retaliation for an attack by Tigrayan forces on an Ethiopian military base in Tigray.

Abiy also stated that the victory in Mekele was achieved without injuring civilians or damaging infrastructure.

However, hundreds of people have died amid the conflict and some 44,000 Ethiopians have fled to neighbouring Sudan.

In Tigray, which borders Eritrea and Sudan, both the internet and telephone communications have been cut off, and the Ethiopian government has restricted access for journalists to Tigray.

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