Sept 28 (Reuters) - Ethiopia’s military and allied militiamen captured the strategic town of Alamata south of Tigray’s capital, a pro-government militia said on Monday, turning the tables after an opposition offensive launched from the region last week.
Video posted by the pro-government Tigrai Peace Force on its Facebook page showed soldiers marching through the streets, waving Ethiopian flags. Reuters could not immediately verify the video.
Two diplomatic sources also said the town had fallen, while a third said the pro-government forces had entered, though it was not yet clear whether they were fully in control.
A source with links to pro-opposition forces told Reuters they were retreating from Alamata and expected the town to be under the federal military’s control in a matter of hours.
Spokespeople for the Ethiopian military and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is leading the armed resistance to the federal government, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The capture of Alamata would be a major boon to federal forces as they press towards the regional capital Mekelle, about 120 km (75 miles) to the north. An important supply hub for troops, food and fuel near Tigray’s southern border with the neighbouring Amhara region, Alamata exchanged hands several times during a 2020-2022 civil war.
ETHIOPIAN MILITARY ACCUSES NEIGHBOURS OF BACKING OPPOSITION
The fighting since last Wednesday in Tigray and the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar has shattered a four-year-old peace deal, the Pretoria Agreement, that ended fighting that killed hundreds of thousands of people.
The 2020-2022 civil war stemmed from a breakdown in relations between the TPLF, a guerrilla movement turned political party that dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades, and Abiy, whose appointment as prime minister in 2018 ended the TPLF’s dominance.
In recent months, the TPLF and federal government have traded accusations of violating the November 2022 agreement. Three days before launching its offensive, the TPLF announced a new alliance with six other armed groups across Ethiopia aimed at overthrowing Abiy’s government.
The renewed conflict adds to instability in the Horn of Africa, already unsettled by Sudan’s civil war, frictions over Red Sea access and spillover from Middle East conflicts.
In comments broadcast on state media on Sunday, the top Ethiopian military commander, Berhanu Jula, reiterated previous accusations that Ethiopia’s neighbour and historical rival Eritrea was supporting the opposition forces, alongside Sudan’s armed forces and Egypt.
Eritrea and Sudan’s army have denied the allegations. Egypt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS REMAIN DOWN IN TIGRAY
The conflict has raised fears of a return to the humanitarian crisis experienced during the 2020-2022 war when the federal government severed communications with Tigray and access to food, cash and medicines was severely restricted.
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Ethiopia said on Monday that it had evacuated 161 people from Mekelle to the capital of neighbouring Afar state, including African Union monitors, federal police, Ethiopian Airlines employees and Red Cross staff.
In Tigray, internet and phone networks remained disrupted for a fourth day. Four sources told Reuters on Friday that the TPLF had ordered the networks shut down. The TPLF has not responded to requests for comment about this.
Tigray is yet to recover from the devastating humanitarian toll of the 2020-2022 war, which pushed hundreds of thousands into famine conditions. Around 750,000 Tigrayans were still internally displaced as of February, according to the UN refugee agency, and the region is facing drought linked to El Nino.
(Reporting by Aaron Ross and Ammu Kannampilly in Nairobi and David Lewis in London; Additional reporting by Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo; Editing by Peter Graff and Andrew Heavens)
