Ethiopian army chief Field Marshal Birhanu Jula says the defence force will not be dismantled for a transitional government, and accuses Asmara and Egypt of backing the TPLF
Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported his remarks at the commemoration of the 119th Defence Forces Day on Saturday. He said the army had seized weapons delivered through the port of Massawa; the claim could not be independently verified.
The Ethiopian News Agency reported that Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, Chief of General Staff, told the 119th Defence Forces Day ceremony that Ethiopia will protect its legitimate interests in the Abay River and the Red Sea, calling both vital to the country's long-term development. He said the government and the military share responsibility for safeguarding them, warned against what he called a greedy faction seeking to monopolise shared resources, and said Ethiopia seeks peaceful, good-neighbourly relations without giving up its essential interests.
Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported that Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, Chief of General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Force, told the commemoration of the 119th Defence Forces Day on Saturday that the defence force would not be dismantled to make way for a transitional government imposed through armed struggle. He said the TPLF receives support from the authorities in Asmara and from Egypt, and that the army had seized weapons delivered through the Eritrean port of Massawa. The claims could not be independently verified.
Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, Chief of General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Force, said the defence force would not be dismantled to make way for a transitional government brought about through armed struggle. Fana Broadcasting Corporate reported his remarks, made on Saturday at the Armed Forces General Headquarters at the commemoration of the 119th Defence Forces Day, held under the theme "Army of Victory". He added that armed struggle was not a legitimate route to power, that those seeking to lead should organise politically and compete peacefully, and that attempts to destroy the ENDF would not succeed.
Fana also reported that he said the TPLF and what he called its external backers hide behind ethnic survival narratives to fuel conflict at the expense of the people of Tigray. He attributed support for the TPLF to the authorities in Asmara and to Egypt, and said the army had seized weapons delivered through the Eritrean port of Massawa and had defeated seven groups and three external forces. These are his claims as reported by Fana, and NatnaTV could not independently verify them. He said Tigray needed peace, development, new political ideas and new leadership rather than another cycle of war.