The Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) announced on Saturday its advancing towards the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, while the Ethiopian authorities decided to close all secondary schools.
The Oromo Army had coordinated with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to overthrow Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and to form a transitional government.
The Commander of TPLF said that his forces are preparing for a “major attack that will end the battle with the government forces led by Abiy Ahmed.”
“We have not withdrawn, and our plan now is to shorten the time to prevent the suffering of the Ethiopians from worsening,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian authorities decided to close all secondary schools, so that students could participate in harvesting crops, instead of being on the battlefront in the civil war, according to state media.
The government said nearly two million students had already left school due to the war that began in the northern province of Tigray last year.
Amidst the intensification of the conflict between the forces of the Ethiopian government and the forces of the TPLF, the government forces said that they were seizing control of cities that were under the control of the TPLF.
The Ethiopian army said, on Wednesday, that it had regained control of the historic city of Lalibela, which includes churches registered in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced large-scale military operations by the Ethiopian army to liberate the cities of Khamisi, Bati and Kumbelsha in the coming days, from the grip of the TPLF.
In a speech from the fighting fronts, the Ethiopian Prime Minister said that operations have begun and the cities will be restored within two days.
The cities referred to by Abiy Ahmed are considered the largest cities in the Amhara region, which were captured by the Tigray Front.
