Ethiopia: the conflict in Tigray extends beyond the borders of the province
Ethiopian region of Tigray, May 2021 © RFI / Sébastien Németh
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The conflict in Tigray province entered its eleventh month last week.
On November 4, therefore, it will be a year since the government and the federal army, supported by militias, paramilitary groups and regional special forces, confront the Tigray rebellion led by the former TPLF, the party that led Ethiopia from 1991 to 2018. Where are we today with the military situation?
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Initially, in the first weeks of the war, the federal army had succeeded in controlling most of the province.
But its sudden withdrawal in June, officially for tactical and humanitarian reasons, was a game-changer on the ground.
The Tigrayans regained control
of their capital and much of the province, and engaged in an offensive outside their territory.
On a map of Ethiopia, the current front line extends beyond the borders of Tigray.
First in the east, in the Afar region, where the Tigrayan rebellion sank several tens of kilometers in July, towards the strategic road through which Ethiopia gets its oil from Djibouti, before d 'to be finally postponed in August. Today, she says there is no more fighting in Afar after a "
strategic withdrawal
", according to her spokesperson Getachew Reda.
Most of the fighting is taking place today in Amhara, south of Tigray, in several valleys.
Over the weeks, the Tigrayans have taken important strategic or symbolic points there, such as the religious site of Lalibela on August 5.
But the belligerents clash especially hard along two routes: one that leads south to the city of Kombolcha, the other west to Lake Tana, where the Tigrayans have lost their localities in recent weeks. the most advanced they controlled.
As for the western front, towards Sudan, it is still calm.
The militias and the regional Amhara forces hold this quarter of Tigray, and in particular the town of Humera.
But this front could reopen soon: several sources report a return to combat of the Eritrean army.
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