14th December, 2020
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has arrived in Mekelle, the regional capital of the troubled Tigray region, a senior Cabinet member said on Sunday.
Tekelle Umma Binti, the former Mayor of Addis Ababa, who serves as the Minister of Petroleum, shared photographs of Prime Minister Abiy interacting with senior military commanders at the Mekelle airport on Sunday.
The Prime Minister said his visit to Tigray region for a meeting with the senior military commanders was meant to discuss the restoration of critical services.
“I attended a meeting with the commanders of our national defence forces and the Tigray administration. The fundamental services of telecommunications and electricity will be restored,” Prime Minister Abiy said.
He said the government was also working on providing humanitarian assistance to the residents of Tigray.
Ethiopian Water and Energy Minister Sileshi Bekele, said the authorities were pleased that the electricity rehabilitation in Tigray was completed successfully.
“We have reconnected many towns and power is back to Mekelle town,” Sileshi said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Abiy met visiting Sudanese counterpart Abdullah Hamdok to discuss regional security issues.
The two discussed the need for an emergency Summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), officials said Sunday.
Prime Minister Abiy said in a tweet he met the Sudanese Prime Minister and his delegation on Sunday.
“Both sides expressed the longstanding relationship between the two countries on the basis of further strengthening the bilateral corporation,” the Office of the Prime Minister in Ethiopia said.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office said the bilateral meeting ended with an understanding reached on a number of issues of mutual interest to the two sides.
The Ethiopian military launched an offensive against the Tigray regional administration on 4 November after the armed forces under the command of the Tigray state administration launched an offensive against federal government forces.
Fighting has continued leading to the displacement of some 50,000 people who have fled to neighbouring Sudan.