Abiy Ahmed Issues "Final Warning" to Tigray Leaders

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed issued a "final warning on Friday to the fleeing senior dissident troops in the Tigray region, saying that they must surrender peacefully to avoid "severe punishment" and prevent "the misery of their own people."

According to the Associated Press (AP), Abiy also urged hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans, who have fled their communities over the past four months of fighting, to return home within a week and resume their "normal lives".

The warning came as witnesses started seeing a greater presence of Ethiopian troops on their way to the place Tigrayans used to flee the area into Sudan.

Ethiopian and allied forces for months have allegedly blocked people from crossing, though more than 60,000 have made it into Sudan.

For several months, Ethiopian troops have allegedly prevented people from crossing, despite the entry of more than 60,000 people into Sudan.

The region remains largely cut off from the world, and the UN human rights office are not able to enter Tigray to help investigate the mass killing of Tigrayans.

[caption id="attachment_223268" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] The banks of the Tekeze River, on the Sudan-Ethiopia border March 16, 2021. Ethiopia is at right, and Sudan is on the left. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)[/caption]

Witnesses in Hamdayit and elsewhere have told AP of widespread killing and looting by soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, a longtime enemy of Tigray, accused of joining Ethiopia in the conflict.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government has been accused of ethnic cleansing from the United States government, and several international institutions.