ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s military has retaken the city of Chifra in Afar area, the state-run broadcaster mentioned on Sunday, its first main seizure from rebellious Tigrayan forces since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appeared on the frontlines two days in the past.
The Tigray Folks’s Liberation Entrance (TPLF) captured Chifra, on the border between the northern Afar and Amhara areas, after combating intensified https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopian-offensive-two-northern-regions-intensifies-tigrayan-forces-say-2021-10-13 final month between Ethiopian troops and forces loyal to the TPLF.
“Ethiopian Protection Forces and Afar Particular Forces have managed Chifra,” the Ethiopian Broadcasting Company mentioned on its Twitter account.
It didn’t give additional particulars. Reuters was not in a position to independently confirm the report. Authorities spokesperson Legesse Tulu and TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
Chifra is west of the city of Mille, which Tigrayan forces have been making an attempt to seize for weeks, as a result of it lies alongside the freeway linking landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti, the Horn of Africa’s most important port.
State-affiliated Fana Broadcasting reported on Friday that Abiy was on the frontline https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopia-pm-frontline-with-army-afar-region-state-affiliated-tv-2021-11-26 with the military combating the Tigrayan forces in Afar.
“The morale of the military may be very thrilling,” he mentioned within the remarks broadcast on Friday, promising to seize Chifra city “at present”.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed and tens of millions displaced by combating since struggle erupted in Tigray final November.
Tigrayan forces have been initially crushed again, however recaptured a lot of the area in July and pushed into neighbouring Amhara and Afar, displacing a whole bunch of hundreds extra folks.
(Reporting by Addis Ababa Newsroom; Modifying by Maggie Fick and Catherine Evans)
