The Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which announced its withdrawal from the Amhara and Afar regions this week and called for a cessation of fighting, did not respond to the government’s announcement so far.
The government’s media office said in a statement that “the valiant Ethiopian forces and security forces in the Amhara region took control of the city of Alamata after defeating the enemy forces.”
Although not confirmed, the withdrawal of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front from Amhara and Afar has raised hopes for talks to end the 13-month-old conflict that has killed thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis and brought parts of the country to the brink of famine.
As of late October, both sides announced their advance on the ground, with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) announcing that it was 200 km by road from the capital, Addis Ababa.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a former army officer, went to the battlefront last month, according to state media, and has since said it has recaptured several key towns.
Ahmed’s spokeswoman, Beilin Seyoum, told AFP that the Front’s announcement of its withdrawal from Amhara and Afar is a cover-up for military losses.
The fighting has displaced more than two million people and pushed hundreds of thousands to the threshold of starvation, according to United Nations estimates, with reports of massacres and mass rapes committed by both sides, prompting the United Nations’ highest human rights body to order the opening of an international investigation into the alleged violations.
War broke out in Ethiopia in November 2020 when the prime minister sent the army into Tigray to oust local authorities emanating from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front after they were accused of orchestrating attacks on federal army barracks.
Ahmed justified the move by saying that the front forces attacked the camps of the federal army, and he pledged to achieve a quick victory.
After suffering losses, however, the rebels scored surprising victories, recapturing the greater part of Tigray by June before advancing on the neighboring Amhara and Afar provinces.
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