TPLF (TDF) on Monday said Tigrayan forces controlled Korem, a town 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of the region’s capital Mekelle.
Forces
from Ethiopia’s northern restive Tigray region said on Monday that they were
pushing south and had recaptured a town from government forces, underscoring
their determination to keep fighting until the region’s prewar borders are
restored.
The
Reuters news agency was unable to independently confirm the claim because
communication links to the region are down.
Conflict
erupted in Tigray eight months ago after Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
sent government forces to quell a rebellion by a powerful ethnic faction, the
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)also known as Tigray defense force (TDF).
Prime
Minister Ahmed’s Prosperity Party won the recently held parliamentary elections
in a landslide, tightening his grip on power.
The
government declared victory three weeks later when it took the regional capital
Mekelle, but the fighting continued, leaving thousands of people dead and
nearly two million forced from their homes.
But
on June 28, the TPLF announced the recapture of Mekelle and now claims to
control most of Tigray, home to seven million people.
TPLF spokesperson
Getachew Reda told Reuters on Monday that Tigrayan forces controlled Korem, a
town 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of Mekelle, and were pushing to seize
control of the major town of Alamata, 20km (12 miles) further south.
A former resident of Korem now living in the capital Addis Ababa
told Reuters that a family member fleeing their home had reached an area with
cell service and confirmed fighting.
Ethiopian
military spokesman Colonel Getnet Adane did not comment on who was in control
of the town but said in a text message, “we had declared a ceasefire,”
referring to a unilateral ceasefire declared by the Ethiopian government after
its troops pulled out of Mekelle. The TPLF has called the ceasefire “a joke”.
A
spokesperson for Prime Minister Ahmed and the head of the government’s task
force on Tigray did not respond to requests for comment.
Getachew, the TPLF spokesperson, said the group wants its prewar borders restored and transport links open to allow people and humanitarian aid to move.
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