Ethiopia: in Tigray, two fronts and three actors
Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) soldiers in Mekele.
AFP - YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In Tigray, the fighting continues, despite the unilateral ceasefire decreed two weeks ago by the Ethiopian government.
Two fronts bring the Tigrayan defense forces and the federal army face to face, as well as the Amhara militias: in the west, where the Tigrayans intend to retake the territories lost during the war, and in the south, where the former rebellion now has the advantage.
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The Tigrayan defense forces retook the town of Korem on Monday, 170 km from the regional capital
Mekele
.
And, Tuesday, they entered further south in Alamata, according to images posted on social networks.
These two towns are in the area called Raya, on the main road that runs south from Mekele and leads into Amhara territory.
In the absence of an independent source, it is impossible to make a human toll of the recovery of these two towns, which suffered artillery fire from the surrounding mountains.
General mobilization
In the west of the province, fighting also resumed at dawn on Tuesday: artillery fire and small arms clashes were reported by aid workers in and around the Eritrean refugee camp of Mai Aini .
According to an Eritrean source, the camp even came under the control of Tigrayan forces.
The latter had also issued an ultimatum Monday to the Amhara militias who had taken over the disputed territory of Wolkait, further west, this winter, calling on them to withdraw.
An ultimatum which was immediately answered in North Gondar, on the Amhara side, by an order for the general mobilization of all armed men.
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said he was "
extremely worried
" for the Eritrean refugees in Tigray.
He recalled that these refugees had been the subject of violence, kidnappings, arrests by the belligerents since the start of the conflict in November 2020.
He denounced the crimes committed recently against the refugees, "
mainly at night, by various armed actors in the refugee camps of Mai Aini and Adi Harush
".
“
In recent weeks, he added, hundreds of Eritreans have been arrested in Shire
”, before concluding: “
The violence must stop
”.
► To read also: Ethiopia: how the rebels regained the advantage in Tigray
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