Inhabitants have confirmed the presence of fighters of the Popular Tiger Liberation Front at the airport and in the streets of the Amhara City.
Le Monde with AFP
The Tigerian rebels resumed, Sunday, December 12, the control of Lalibela, an emblematic city of Northern Ethiopia which houses a UNESCO World Heritage Site, eleven days after the Government announced to be seized.
Residents joined Sunday afternoon by the AFP stated that fighters from the Popular Liberation Front of the Tiger (TPLF) had entered this city in the region of the Amhara. “They are in the city center, there were no fights,” said one inhabitant. Another said: “They came back. They are already there.”
Sunday evening, the TIGRAI-TV channel, linked to the TPLF, announced that the Tiginian troops “took Lalibela airport and the city of Lalibela”, as well as Gashena, locality located for about sixty kilometers south. .
Cut Communications
The government did not respond immediately to the pensionals of AFP. Communications are cut into combat zones and access of journalists is restricted, making any independent verification of land positions.
The December 1 Er ) announced having taken up Lalibela, a city famous for his monolith churches that had passed under control of the rebels in August.
The AFP went to the city last week, while it was secured by the Special Forces Amhara and Amhara Fano Militia fighters.
According to the second witness surveyed Sunday, these pro-governmental forces moved to the south towards Gashena, where fights were reported in recent days.
Earlier in Sunday’s day, a TPLF Military Directorate announced that its combatants had “conducted global counter-offensives” in several points, especially along the road connecting Lalibela to Gashena. “Our forces first defended and then carried offensives against the enormous strength that attacked the Gashena Front and the surrounding areas and managed to win a glorious and unexpected victory,” adds the release.
“Fear”
A Lalibela, Sunday, “Most people are afraid,” said one of the locations surveyed: “Some run away. Most people are already gone because there could be a revenge. We expressed Our happiness when [the TPLF] is gone. “
The government is conducting a “counter-offensive” in recent weeks to regain the rebels, which it has been fighting for more than a year in northern Ethiopia.
The war broke out in November 2020 after the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, sent the army to the northern Tiger Region in order to dismiss the local authorities, from the TPLF, which defied his authority and that He accused of attacking military bases.
Abiy Ahmed had proclaimed the victory three weeks later, after taking the Makaleland regional capital.
But in June, the TPLF resumed most of the Tiger, then advanced in the neighboring regions of AFAR and the Amhara, where they stated in early November having taken the cities of Drass and Kombolcha, strategic crossroads on the road leading to the capital.
On November 25, Abiy Ahmed announced to go in person to the front to lead the “counter offensive”.
Since then, the government has announced that I have taken back from the field, including Descal and Kombolcha. The TPLF states, it does not have been defeated militarily but have operated strategic withdrawals.
Food aid
Back Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Abiy Ahmed returned to the front, announced on Saturday night the prime minister’s office on Twitter.
The government has also claimed to have taken over several areas of AFAR and Amhara. In particular, he announced “cut the main highway” between the city of Woldiya and Makale.
Most thirteen months of conflict ravaged northern Ethiopia and plunged 9.4 million people “in critical food assistance”, according to the UN.
The United Nations estimates at 5.2 million the number of people in need of Emergency Food aid, 3.7 million in Amhara and 534,000 in Afar.