{"id":1125,"date":"2021-07-04T15:07:30","date_gmt":"2021-07-04T15:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2021-07-04T15:07:30","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T15:07:30","slug":"tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops","title":{"rendered":"Tigray forces hunt down retreating Ethiopian-Eritrean troops"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-eritrea:<\/strong> Tigrayan rebels vowed to hunt down Ethiopian and Eritrean troops on the run around the regional capital, Mekelle, on Wednesday after taking full control of the city in a sharp reversal of eight months of war.<\/p>\n

People in Mekelle said the incoming Tigrayan fighters were greeted with cheers.\u00a0There were similar scenes on video footage from the northern town of Shire, where residents said government-allied Eritrean forces pulled out and Tigrayan forces re-entered.<\/p>\n

The Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire on Monday after the Tigray People\u2019s Liberation Front\u2019s (TPLF) territorial gains.<\/p>\n

However, Getachew Reda, a TPLF spokesman, said\u00a0the ceasefire was a \u201cjoke\u201d\u00a0and hundreds had been killed in fighting near the border with the Afar region, information that could not be independently verified.<\/p>\n

Getachew told Al Jazeera\u2019s Catherine Wambua on Wednesday that\u00a0rebel forces would not stop fighting\u00a0until the entire region was liberated.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetachew says even if [Tigray] forces are making good gains and pushing back opposing forces, the Ethiopian military \u2013 backed by Eritrean forces and Amhara fighters \u2013 still control large swaths of Tigrayan territory,\u201d Wambua said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim of the Tigrayan forces is to push back to make sure that every inch of Tigray is in their control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lieutenant-General Bacha Debele told reporters on Wednesday the Ethiopian army left Mekelle because it needs to prepare for threats other than the rebels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe TPLF is no more a threat but we\u2019ve got [a] more national threat that we need to shift our attention to,\u201d Debele said, without elaborating.<\/p>\n

The Ethiopian army could re-enter Mekelle within weeks if needed, the government said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEthiopia is exposed to an attack from outsiders\u201d because of the conflict, Redwan Hussein, spokesman for the Ethiopian government\u2019s task force for Tigray, told reporters in an apparent reference to Sudan.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Redwan described the ceasefire as a political decision \u201cmade for humanitarian cause\u201d.\u00a0\u201cIf it is required, we can easily enter to Mekelle and we can enter in less than three weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cross-border pursuit<\/h2>\n

Over the next few days, TPLF forces will go after soldiers allied to the government from the neighbouring Amhara region \u2013 in the south and west \u2013 and from the neighbouring nation of Eritrea in the north and northwest of Tigray, Getachew said, adding they would cross borders in pursuit if necessary.<\/p>\n

The fighting in Ethiopia\u2019s northern region has killed thousands of people and displaced two million.<\/p>\n

As the United States warns up to 900,000 people in Tigray face famine conditions in the world\u2019s worst hunger crisis in a decade, little is known about vast areas of Tigray that have been under the control of combatants from all sides since November.<\/p>\n

With blocked roads and ongoing fighting, humanitarian groups have been left without access.<\/p>\n

The US said atrocities should end immediately and warned Ethiopia and Eritrea that Washington would be watching closely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not stand by in the face of the horrors in Tigray,\u201d said Robert Godec, acting assistant secretary of state for the State Department\u2019s Bureau of African Affairs.<\/p>\n

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement the truce declaration could be positive if it led to steps to \u201cto end the conflict, stop the atrocities, and allow unhindered humanitarian assistance\u201d.<\/p>\n

He reiterated a call for the withdrawal of Eritrean forces from Ethiopian territory as a necessary step for a durable ceasefire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-eritrea: Tigrayan rebels vowed to hunt down Ethiopian and Eritrean troops on the run around the regional capital, Mekelle, on Wednesday after taking full control of the city in a sharp reversal of eight months of war. People in Mekelle said the incoming Tigrayan fighters were greeted with cheers.\u00a0There were similar scenes on video footage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[337,270],"class_list":["post-1125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-border","tag-tigray"],"yoast_head":"\nTigray forces hunt down retreating Ethiopian-Eritrean troops - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tigrayan rebels vowed to hunt down Ethiopian and Eritrean troops on the run around the regional capital, Mekelle, on Wednesday after\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tigray forces hunt down retreating Ethiopian-Eritrean troops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tigrayan rebels vowed to hunt down Ethiopian and Eritrean troops on the run around the regional capital, Mekelle, on Wednesday after\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-04T15:07:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2021\/07\/AP21154674726456.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"513\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Tigray forces hunt down retreating Ethiopian-Eritrean troops\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-04T15:07:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops\"},\"wordCount\":567,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2021\/07\/AP21154674726456.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"border\",\"Tigray\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/community\/tigray-forces-hunt-down-retreating-ethiopian-eritrean-troops\",\"name\":\"Tigray forces hunt down retreating Ethiopian-Eritrean troops - 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