Ethiopia says Army clearing Tigrayan forces from two Northern Regions

BoomRadioNG | December 23, 2021

The Ethiopian government said on Tuesday the army was clearing rebellious Tigrayan forces from the northern Amhara and Afar regions, dismissing Tigrayan statements that their forces were retreating voluntarily to create an “opening for peace”.

Thousands of civilians have been killed as a result of the 13-month-old conflict while around 400,000 are facing famine conditions in Tigray and 9.4 million people need food aid across northern Ethiopia.

Government spokeswoman Billene Seyoum told a news conference; “As we have seen in recent weeks, the national defense forces together with allied forces from the Afar region and the Amhara region have made considerable gains in reversing the occupation by TPLF of many Amhara and Afar towns,”

Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed

“These gains have been made in very heavy battles that have been undertaken over the past weeks, the most recent being the full clearing of TPLF from North Wollo Zone and liberating its strategic capital Woldiya,” Billene said.

She added that the national armed forces were still in the process of clearing TPLF forces from pockets within the two regions.

Paul Ayorinde