Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has challenged his supporters to use their weapons to stop an advance by Tigrayan rebel forces. He noted that it was the duty of citizens to, block, destroy and bury the forces of the TPLF rebels.

Ahmed made the appeal on Facebook after the rebels said they have made further territorial gains in the Amhara region, taking them closer to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopian government has refuted assertions by the TPLF rebels that they’ve seized the city of Dessie and nearby Kombolcha in the Amhara region.

A TPLF spokesman, Getachew Reda stated that they had captured Kombolcha and that their only aim was to break a siege of Tigray. However, communications with the region are largely blocked and desperately needed aid hasn’t been getting through.

The United Nations, UN estimates that 400,000 people in the region are living in famine-like conditions, a year after the conflict began.