The Ethiopian rebels of Tigray, who in recent months had entered the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar, are retreating to their region to “open the doors” to humanitarian aid, their spokesman announced Monday.Afp. This announcement opens a new phase in the conflict that for over a year has pitted pro-government forces against the Tigray rebels and has triggered a profound humanitarian crisis.
“We have decided to withdraw from these areas towards Tigray. We want to open the door to humanitarian aid,” said Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (Tplf). Until now, the TPLF had called “absolutely impossible” a withdrawal from these two regions, requested by the government as a prerequisite for negotiations. For their part, the rebels have called on federal authorities to end the humanitarian “siege” of Tigray.
“We are carrying out gradual withdrawals. We started withdrawing our forces a few weeks ago. We announce it now,” Getachew explained Monday, stating in particular that the rebels have “left” Lalibela. This Unesco World Heritage city, famous for its rock churches dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries, has changed hands several times, as have other locations.
Since the end of October, the two sides have claimed important territorial advances, but communications have been cut off in the combat zones and access to journalists is limited, making any independent verification of positions on the ground difficult. For a while, the rebels claimed to be about 200 km from the capital Addis Ababa. At the end of November, state media announced the arrival of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a former lieutenant colonel in the army, to lead a “counter-offensive”.
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The government then claimed several victories. Spokeswoman for the prime minister, Billene Seyoum, told theAfp that the “Tplf has suffered considerable losses in recent weeks and is therefore claiming to (make) a ‘strategic retreat’ to cover a defeat. There are pockets in the Amhara region where they still are, as well as other fronts on which they are trying to open the conflict “.
The war broke out in November 2020 after Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to the northern Tigray region to remove local authorities from the TPLF, which challenged his authority and accused him of attacking military bases. Abiy Ahmed proclaimed victory three weeks later after the capture of the regional capital Mekele. But in June, the Tplf took over most of Tigray, then advanced into the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara.
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According to the United Nations, the conflict has caused several thousand deaths, more than two million displaced and plunged hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians into conditions bordering on famine. Intense diplomatic efforts led in particular by the African Union to try to reach a ceasefire have so far not led to any decisive progress.
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