{"id":3298,"date":"2021-12-19T16:07:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-19T16:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?p=3298"},"modified":"2021-12-19T15:56:47","modified_gmt":"2021-12-19T15:56:47","slug":"ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia claims retaking towns from Tigray rebels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>Ethiopian forces have recaptured several towns from Tigrayan rebels including Kobo and Woldiya in the north, the government announced Saturday, as fierce fighting raged in the 13-month war that has left thousands dead.<\/p>\n<p>The conflict between forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People&#8217;s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis and prompted the UN&#8217;s top rights body to order an international probe into alleged abuses.<\/p>\n<p>Abiy, a former lieutenant colonel in the military, announced last month that he would head to the front, following which the government has claimed to have retaken several key towns.<\/p>\n<p>Communications have been cut in the conflict zone and access for journalists is restricted, making it difficult to verify battlefield claims.<\/p>\n<p>But on Saturday, the government communication service said pro-Abiy forces &#8220;have managed to fully control Sanqa, Sirinqa, as well as the cities of Woldiya, Hara, Gobiye, Robit and Kobo.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The enemy force which escaped from destruction and was fleeing&#8230; is being followed by our allied forces&#8221;, it said in a statement on its Facebook page.<\/p>\n<p>Starting late October, the two sides have each claimed major territorial advances with several key cities apparently changing hands in the weeks since.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, the rebels recaptured the UNESCO World Heritage site of Lalibela, 11 days after Ethiopian forces claimed to have retaken it from the TPLF.<\/p>\n<p>The war broke out in November 2020 when Abiy sent troops into Ethiopia&#8217;s northernmost region of Tigray to topple the TPLF, accusing them of attacking army camps.<\/p>\n<p>He vowed a swift victory but the rebels mounted a shock comeback, recapturing most of Tigray by June before advancing into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, where Kobo and Woldiya are located.<\/p>\n<p>The fighting has displaced more than two million and driven hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions, according to UN estimates, with reports of massacres and mass rapes by both sides.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the UN Human Rights Council voted to send international investigators to Africa&#8217;s second most populous nation amid warnings of looming generalised violence, in a move slammed by Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n<p>Diplomatic efforts led by the African Union to try to reach a ceasefire have failed to achieve any visible breakthrough.<\/p>\n<p>Fears of a rebel march on the capital prompted countries such as the United States, France and Britain to urge their citizens to leave Ethiopia as soon as possible, although Abiy&#8217;s government has insisted the city was secure.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\">Eritrea<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Eritrea. Ethiopian forces have recaptured several towns from Tigrayan rebels including Kobo and Woldiya in the north, the government announced Saturday, as fierce fighting raged in the 13-month war that has left thousands dead. The conflict between forces loyal to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the Tigray People&#8217;s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[242,243,233],"class_list":["post-3298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ethiopia claims retaking towns from Tigray rebels - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ethiopian forces have recaptured several towns from Tigrayan rebels including Kobo and Woldiya in the north, the governm ...\" \/>\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\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethiopia claims retaking towns from Tigray rebels\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ethiopian forces have recaptured several towns from Tigrayan rebels including Kobo and Woldiya in the north, the governm ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels\" \/>\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=\"2021-12-19T16:07:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2021\/12\/img-61bf562b2c182.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"405\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ethiopia claims retaking towns from Tigray rebels\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-19T16:07:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2021\/12\/img-61bf562b2c182.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/ethiopia-claims-retaking-towns-from-tigray-rebels\",\"name\":\"Ethiopia claims retaking towns from Tigray rebels - 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