Ethiopia PM spox on call for civilians to join fight in Tigray

A national call to arms in Ethiopia was not due to a lack of military capacity, but rather down to a need for a concerted community effort to fight forces in the embattled Tigray region, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told a briefing Thursday.

The comments from spokesperson Billene Seyoum follow a government statement Tuesday which summoned all capable citizens to war.

The call to join the military is so far not compulsory, but with access to parts of Ethiopia increasingly blocked, it's difficult to know what kind of pressure is being applied.

Seyoum accused the Tigray People's Liberation Front - which the government has designated a terrorist organization - of sending an "influx of civilians" to loot and destroy properties.

"In that regard it requires a concerted effort by all community members, so it is not only the National Defense Forces that can stop this influx that is being perpetrated by the TPLF," she added.

The prime minister's spokesperson also took aim at the Oromo Liberation Front, who recently announced an alliance with the TPLF.

She accused the group of "killing the people of the region for its individual political gains".

The alliance is a further sign of the broadening of the Tigray conflict that began in November after a political fallout between Ahmed and the Tigray leaders who had dominated Ethiopia's government for nearly three decades.

Thousands have been killed in the nine-month war that has been marked by widespread allegations by ethnic Tigrayans of gang-rapes, man-made famine and mass expulsions by Ethiopian and allied forces.