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Updated October 31st, 2021 at 17:23 IST

Rebelling Tigray forces claim to have taken over Ethiopia's Dessie city, govt denies

As the year-long war intensifies, the Tigray forces on Saturday, 30 October, said that they have taken control of a key city on the route to Ethiopia’s capital.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
Ethiopia
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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As the year-long war intensifies, the Tigray forces on Saturday, 30 October, said that they have taken control of a key city on the route to Ethiopia’s capital. While speaking to the Associated Press, Tigray forces spokesman Getachew Reda said that the fighters seized the strategic city of Dessie. Reda even asserted that Tigray forces already had “commanding positions” on the outskirts of the nearby city of Kombolcha and had its airport in their sight.

It is pertinent to mention here that taking control of the crossroads city of Dessie and Kombolcha would put the Tigray forces in a position to move south along a major highway toward the capital city of Addis Ababa. Reda said that it is just a matter of days before the fighters will also be able to physically link up with another armed group, the Oromo Liberation Army, with which it struck an alliance earlier this year.

“We don’t want to be in charge. We don’t want Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to take an entire nation down with him, either,” Getachew said.

Following the announcement by the Tigray forces, the Ethiopian government, however, denied that the group had taken over Dessie. A spokesman for the Ethiopian government, Legesse Tulu, rejected the forces’ claim as “fabricated propaganda”. Tulu told AP that Dessie and its surroundings were under military control. 

More on Tigray crisis

It is noteworthy to mention that the Tigray forces have already taken the ongoing war into Ethiopia’s neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions. The Tigray forces said that they are pressuring the Ethiopian government to lift the months-long blockade on their region of around 6 million people. Amid the rising tensions, thousands of people have been killed after a political falling-out between the Tigray forces, who long dominated the national government and the current PM Ahmed’s administration.

Meanwhile, the US has urged the Tigray fighters to halt their advances. On Saturday, the US called on the Tigray forces to halt their advances in and around Dessie and Kombolcha, withdraw from Amhara and Afar and not use artillery against cities. America even urged both sides to begin cease-fire negotiations, saying “there is no military solution to this conflict” which it said has cost “countless lives”. The US also said that it continued to be “alarmed” by reports of the deliberate denial of humanitarian assistance in Tigray, where the UN has reported a “de facto humanitarian blockade.

(With inputs from AP)

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Published October 31st, 2021 at 17:23 IST

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