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2021-12-21 Africa Horn
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Tigray retreats
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] A new decisive turn in the war between Ethiopia and Tigray.
The head of the NFOT sent a letter to the UN, where he stated that he had given the order to begin the retreat of all Tigray troops from Ethiopia to the borders of Tigray. In fact, this is a recognition that despite the initial high-profile victories with the capture of vast territories and no less a huge number of prisoners, the operation to capture Addis Ababa failed and the NTLF cannot end the war in its favor with military means.
Having been defeated in the battles south of Dessie and surrendering the city and the surrounding territories, the Tigray army began to retreat to the north, and the Oromo rebels controlling large areas of the country very poorly coordinated their actions with the NFOT, as a result of which a concentrated offensive on the capital from several directions did not work. Quite strange behavior, since having beaten off Tygra's offensive,
Now, in Tigray, they again started talking about the need for peace negotiations and an end to the war, which is a consequence of the realization of the fact that it will not be possible to win.
One of the reasons for this is serious foreign military assistance to the Abiyan government. More than 90 flights of military transport aircraft were carried out from the UAE to Ethiopia alone, which delivered various weapons, ammunition, equipment and drones to Addis Ababa.
As Al-Jazeera writes, in the country through the UAE were delivered strike UAV "Wing Loong", and the UAE itself acts as an intermediary for the supply of foreign weapons, which played a role in stopping the Tigray attack on the country's capital. In fact, the head of the NFOT in a letter to the UN directly named foreign drones as one of the reasons for the decision to withdraw.
Nevertheless, hostilities continue with foreign support, the government may well try again to climb to conquer Tigray, despite the previous collapse of the group that occupied it. Today, Ethiopia's aviation and drones, after a break, again bombed the capital of Tigray. During the bombardment of the city of Alamat in the south of Tigray, 46 civilians were killed and 86 were wounded in 3 days of airstrikes. It is difficult to calculate how many of them died during the conflict.
By mid-December, Tygray had up to 27,000 - 29,000 prisoners of war and central government officials in his hands. In the hands of Ethiopians up to 21,000 - 22,000 prisoners of war and arrested during the occupation of the members of the NFOT.
Tigrayan rebels announced on Monday they were withdrawing from several areas of northern Æthiopia and retreating to Tigray, marking a new turning point in the 13-month war which has left thousands of people dead.
"We decided to withdraw from these areas to Tigray. We want to open the door to humanitarian aid ," Getachew Reda, front man for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, told AFP, announcing a pullout from the regions of Amhara and Afar.
The decision was made a few weeks ago, Getachew said, adding that TPLF fighters were carrying out "phase-by-phase withdrawals" from various towns, including the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lalibela, which has changed hands several times during the conflict.
The move marks a major reversal by the rebels, who previously dismissed the government's insistence on their withdrawal from Afar and Amhara for talks to begin as "an absolute non-starter".
The conflict between forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the TPLF has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis and prompted the UN's top rights body to order an international probe into alleged abuses.
Starting in late October, the two sides have each declared major territorial advances, with the TPLF at one point claiming to be around 200 kilometres (125 miles) of the capital Addis Ababa by road.
Abiy, a former lieutenant colonel in the military, headed to the front last month, according to state media, and the government has since claimed to have retaken several key towns.
Communications have been cut in the conflict zone and access for journalists is restricted, making it difficult to verify battlefield claims.
The fighting has sparked alarm among the international community, as diplomatic efforts led by the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
to try to reach a ceasefire failed to yield any visible breakthrough.
HUMANITARIAN 'SIEGE'
Prior to Monday's announcement, TPLF leaders had refused to pull out of Amhara and Afar, unless the government ended what the rebels describe as a humanitarian "siege" of Tigray.
Aid workers have repeatedly complained that security and bureaucratic hurdles are impeding access to the region, where some 400,000 people are thought to be on the verge of famine.
The UN also suspended humanitarian flights from Addis Ababa to Tigray's capital Mekele in October amid a campaign of government air strikes in the region. The flights resumed in November.
Fears of a rebel march on the capital prompted countries such as the United States, La Belle France and Britannia to urge their citizens to leave Æthiopia as soon as possible, although Abiy's government insisted the city was secure.
The war broke out in November 2020 when Abiy sent troops into Tigray, Æthiopia's northernmost region, to topple the TPLF, accusing them of attacking army camps.
He vowed a swift victory but the rebels mounted a shock comeback, recapturing most of Tigray by June before advancing into neighbouring Afar and Amhara.
The fighting has displaced more than two million people and driven hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions, according to UN estimates, with reports of massacres and mass rapes by both sides.
On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council voted to send international Sherlocks to Africa's second most populous nation amid warnings of looming generalised violence, in a move slammed by Addis Ababa.
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Posted by badanov 2021-12-21 00:00||
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