The Ethiopian government has broadcast new pictures of Prime Minister Abi Ahmed visiting the army forces on the battlefronts, as battles are still raging mostly with the Tigray Front forces and allied factions, while the United Nations has warned that more than 9 million people are facing starvation as a direct result of the conflict. .

Abi Ahmed said that his country is proud of its soldiers and national army, and that they will repel the enemy's attack and will achieve victory, and that the Tigray Front will not be able to defeat the soldiers of his country.

The Ethiopian government had announced that the army had regained control of the Burqa and Shifra regions on the border between the Afar and Amhara regions.

The government said that its forces were advancing towards the city of Baty, reaching Kumbelcha, in the deep east of the Amhara region, but the Tigray People's Liberation Front did not comment on these developments.

ወይ ኢ ኢ illo ሆን ኢ sayingዮጵያ greedy ሆን ነው:: pic.twitter.com/4OVCiXk5t2

— Abiy Ahmed Ali 🇪🇹 (@AbiyAhmedAli) November 26, 2021

Constant fighting

For his part, Al-Jazeera correspondent - who is in Afar - said that the fighting continues between the Ethiopian army and the Afar Special Forces on the one hand, and the fighters of the Tigray Front on the other, in the areas of Bati Shafra on the borders of Afar and Amhara, and in the Waldia area on the Afar Tigray road.

The reporter added that the sounds of cannons and various types of weapons were heard throughout the night in several towns on the outskirts of Afar and Amhara.

Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted local sources as saying that the Ethiopian army and Afar forces were able to secure the strategic town of Mele in Afar, which is an important militarily area, as it overlooks the strategic road linking Addis Ababa and Djibouti.

The Ethiopian Government Communications Office announced that the federal army had taken control of the Burqa districts, the mountains surrounding the city of Bati Shifra, and also managed to control the Bati Kasajita front, and headed to the districts of Bati and Kombolcha.


In the Afar region, the Government Communications Office said that the army had "liberated" the cities of Shafra and Shefto, and was advancing to encircle the areas controlled by the Tigray Liberation Front.

As for the Shawarbit front, battles are still taking place between government forces on the one hand, and the alliance of the Tigray Front and the Oromian Anuq Sheni group on the other.

In international reactions, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is deeply concerned about the military escalation in Ethiopia.

Price added - after a phone call between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Blinken - that the minister stressed the need for urgent action to conduct negotiations.

In a related development, the US Embassy in Addis Ababa said that the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate, and urged its citizens to leave immediately and using available commercial options.


Hunger lurks

On the humanitarian front, the United Nations World Food Program says more than 9 million people are facing hunger as a direct result of the conflict.

The humanitarian crisis is concentrated in the three regions: Tigray, Amhara and Afar;

The Amhara region witnessed the largest jump in numbers in terms of the number of people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, with nearly 4 million people.

And the extent of malnutrition has expanded in the fighting areas, as figures indicate that about 50% of pregnant and lactating women who were examined in Amhara and Tigray suffer from malnutrition.

As for children, the examination data indicated that malnutrition rates among them in the three regions ranged between 16 and 28 percent.

Ethiopia's Minister of State for Communications, Salamuet Kasa, said that humanitarian aid in Tigray region resumed a few days ago.

And Casa added - in a statement - that the aid arrived by planes to the region, organized and coordinated with the United Nations, and explained that the number of displaced people from the Amhara and Afar regions exceeded 1.6 million, as more than 265,000 tons of food were distributed during the past three days.

The Ethiopian minister added that the main support provided to those displaced by the attack is mainly through the government and partner organizations.