Ethiopia: the government continues its progress in the north of the country

Screenshot of a video posted on November 26, 2021 on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's Twitter account, announcing the takeover of the town of Kasagita.

© Twitter / Abiy Ahmed

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The government of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed assures, this Monday December 6, to have taken again the towns of Dessie and Kombolcha, two agglomerations of more than 200,000 inhabitants.

While the TPLF Tigray rebels were 180 km from the capital Addis Ababa, ten days ago, they began to withdraw to the Tigray region.

The TPLF party called this withdrawal a “territorial readjustment”.

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With our correspondent in Addis Ababa,

" 

 ," said TPLF party chairman Debretsion Gebremichael.

Indeed, in one week, the Tigrayan soldiers operated an express withdrawal, on an axis of nearly 200 kilometers in the direction of Tigray, leaving the way free for the soldiers and pro-government militiamen to reinvest most of the cities of the Afar region. and Amhara.

The leader of the TPLF also assured that the Tigrayan forces had not been reduced by this withdrawal.

A diplomat stationed in Addis Ababa expresses some doubts.

If the rise of the front was carried out without major combat, according to him, the TPLF lost units.

Losses in particular due to drone strikes, which have become more frequent, since the end of November, offering Addis Ababa a definite advantage on the battlefield.

Read also: In Ethiopia, federal forces seem to be slowing the progress of the Tigrayan rebels

The towns of Dessie and Kombolcha particularly symbolize the reversal of the military situation.

Their capture by the Tigrayan insurgents in early November raised fears of a collapse of the national army.

With the takeover of the two agglomerations, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his government once again present themselves as masters of the situation.

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• Ethiopia