ADDIS ABABA, Oct 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia says its soldiers have seized three towns in the northern Tigray region from forces it has been fighting in the 23-month civil war.
It has promised to take “maximum care” to protect civilians from harm.
The loss of the strategic city of Shire, with its airport and road links to the regional capital, comes as a significant blow to Tigrayan forces.
Alamata and Korem are the two other towns now claimed by Ethiopian federal troops.
This is the latest escalation in the conflict with the Ethiopian government, whose troops are being bolstered by Eritrean allies.
Ethiopia on Tuesday promised to work with humanitarian agencies to bring vital aid to all parts of Tigray now under its control.
Most of Tigray has been under a virtual blockade by the federal government since June 2021, when Tigrayan forces recaptured much of the region.
Shire is one of Tigray’s biggest cities with some 100,000 residents.
The war has left a humanitarian disaster in its wake.
The UN says that currently 5.4 million people – around three-quarters of Tigray’s population – need some kind of food aid as the fighting has disrupted supplies.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Monday that the situation in Tigray was “spiralling out of control” and hostilities must end immediately, and the African Union has called for the same.
In August, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed alleged that planes carrying weapons were landing at night in Shire – presumably to support Tigrayan forces. Abiy did not specify where the flights were coming from.
In a statement on Monday, the government’s communication office accused Tigrayan forces of colluding with unnamed “hostile” foreign actors in violating Ethiopia’s airspace as a justification for the decision to control airports.
Fighting began in November 2020, when federal Ethiopian forces tried to wrest control of the region from the TPLF.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK