The Ethiopian government announced on Tuesday, October 18 that it had seized three towns in Tigray, confirming in particular the capture of the key town of Shire and ensuring that it was preparing for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the restoration of services in these areas.
The Ethiopian Federal Armytook control of the cities of Shire, Alamata and Korem without urban fighting“, said the government in a press release. The “invading forces have so far taken control of some areas, including Shire“, said the command, calling “all able-bodied Tigrayans to stubbornly defend” the region.
‘Alarming levels’
City of 100,000 inhabitants before the conflict and located about fifty km from the border with Eritrea, a country that borders all of northern Tigray, Shire is home to an airport and is on a road linking Mekele, the regional capital, about 300km. It is also home to thousands of people displaced inside Tigray by the conflict that has ravaged northern Ethiopia since November 2020.
Read alsoWater Wars: In Ethiopia, the dam of discord
On Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that “the situation in Ethiopia is spiraling out of control” and “violence and destruction reach alarming levels“, emphasizing the”terrible price paid by civilians” and the “nightmareexperienced by the Ethiopian population.
Withdrawal claimed
Antonio Guterres claimed “the immediate withdrawal and disengagement from Ethiopia of the Eritrean armed forceswho are supporting the Ethiopian federal troops in Tigray and asked toall partiesto allow the passage of humanitarian aid, the delivery of which the UN has suspended since the resumption of fighting at the end of August. “Hostilities in Tigray must end now“Insisted Antonio Guterres, relaying a similar call for a ceasefire”immediatelaunched Sunday by the African Union (AU).
Read alsoEthiopia: Lalibela celebrates the withdrawal of Tigrayan soldiers
In recent days the UN, AU, European Union (EU) and United States, among others, have expressed concern about the intensification of military offensives in Tigray, particularly in Shire, which has been the target of bombardments for several days. Two civilians and an employee of the NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC) died there in a bombardment on Friday.
“Significant risk of escalation”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Austrian Volker Türk, for his part affirmed the existence of a “significant risk of escalation“. He stressed that the latest airstrikes on the Tigray region are likely to greatly exacerbate the impact of hostilities on civilians.
“I am (…) deeply disturbed by the significant risk of escalation given the massive and continuous mobilization of soldiers and combatants by the various parties to the conflict“, he said in a statement. He finally appealed to all parties to the conflict to immediately cease all hostilities and work towards a peaceful and lasting solution.
Read alsoDam on the Nile: Ethiopia’s flagship project worries its neighbors
The conflict, which since November 2020 has pitted the Ethiopian federal government against the rebel authorities in Tigray, is taking place almost behind closed doors, with northern Ethiopia largely off limits to journalists. But according to concordant sources, Tigray is currently caught in a pincer movement between, in the north, a joint offensive by Ethiopian and Eritrean armies from Eritrea, and in the south, Ethiopian troops aided by forces from the Amhara and Afar neighbors.
SEE ALSO – Ethiopia: nearly 40% of the population of Tigray “in extreme shortage of food”