Oct 18, 2022 - World

Ethiopia's army captures three cities in Tigray region

Ivana Saric

A convoy of trucks part of a convoy of the World Food Programme (WFP) — Trucks part of a convoy of the World Food Programme are seen on their way to Tigray in the village of Erebti, Ethiopia, on June 9. Photo: Eduardo Soteras/AFP via Getty Images

Government forces in Ethiopia have successfully captured three cities in the country's northern Tigray region from rebel forces, the government announced in a statement Tuesday.

Driving the news: "The ENDF (Ethiopian National Defence Force) has taken control of the towns of Shire, Alamata, and Korem without fighting in urban areas," the government said in a statement, Reuters reported.

State of play: Shire, located northwest of the regional capital Mekelle, is a strategic crossroads that is a starting point for the main highway leading to Mekelle and it contains an airport, according to the Washington Post.

Residents of Shire fled the city over the weekend following several days of airstrikes and artillery fire, the Post reported.
The cities of Korem and Alamata, south of Mekelle, lie along the main road that leads to the neighboring region of Amhara, per Reuters.

The big picture: Fighting began in Ethiopia's Tigray region in November 2020 and has led to what the UN has described as a de facto aid blockade.

While a ceasefire agreement was reached in March, it was scuttled in August when fighting broke out between government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

"The situation in Ethiopia is spiraling out of control," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted Monday.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in August called the humanitarian crisis caused by Tigray's conflict the "worst disaster on Earth."
There have been credible reports of ethnic cleansing and of the government using starvation as a weapon of war, Axios' Zachary Basu writes.

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Ethiopia's army captures three cities in Tigray region

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