Thousands of people fleeing fighting elsewhere live in the Shire
Ethiopia announced a new advance of its forces in the Tigray region, capturing the strategic town of Shire, in addition to two other towns.
Addis Ababa promised to take “the utmost care” to protect civilians from any harm.
The news comes at a time when diplomats are increasingly concerned about the impact of the ongoing battles on citizens.
The loss of Shire represents a major blow to the rebels because of the presence of an airport in it, and the fact that it is a point of contact with the regional capital.
Ethiopian federal forces say they have also captured the towns of Alamata and Korem.
This is the latest escalation in the conflict with the Ethiopian government, which is backed by forces from Eritrea.
Shire is one of the largest towns in Tigray, with a population of about 100,000.
Correspondents in Mikkeli, the regional capital, say the news has fueled a mixture of anger and shock.
Residents follow the news over the air and share information available on the streets, while others prepare food to support the Tigray Defense Forces, and also stock it for themselves as a precaution.
“We will not give up defending ourselves in front of those who come to humiliate us,” said one woman. Another added, fearing for her sister, who lives in the Shire: “They (the federal forces) are going to kill her.”
On Monday, the Ethiopian government said it intended to seize all airports in Tigray, but there was no official comment on Tuesday on developments in Shire, nor on reports that government forces had also advanced into towns in southern Tigray.
Thousands of residents are already leaving Shire, although the TPLF asserts that the loss of control of the town to federal forces is only a temporary development.
Many of the people who left had previously been forced to flee their homes in other parts of Tigray, and had come to the Shire where they were living in makeshift camps in schools and university campuses.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front says it is engaged in a “life-or-death struggle” and calls on all Tigrayans to continue the fight, but it has also sought to downplay the developments, saying that “it is normal to leave areas during war”.
The war left a humanitarian disaster. Currently, the United Nations says 5.4 million people, about three-quarters of the population of Tigray, need some form of food aid because the fighting has prevented supplies from being provided.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation in Tigray was “getting out of control” and hostilities must end immediately, and called on the African Union to do the same.
However, the violence shows no sign of an end to the conflict, and attempts to start peace negotiations, despite the welcome of both sides, have yet to bear fruit.
photo released, Archyde.com
Diplomats have warned of civilian bloodshed if more TPLF forces are expelled from other towns and cities.
Also less than 100 km from Shire there are two other major cities, Aksum and Adua.
The federal government could crawl on Aksum and Adua, motivated by its gains, a move that could then give it access to the main highway to Mekkeli.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had claimed in August that planes carrying weapons were landing at night in the Shire, likely to support the Tigrayan forces, without specifying where they came from.
In a statement on Monday, the Government Communications Office accused the Tigrayan forces of colluding with “hostile” foreign parties, whose name was not specified, in violating Ethiopian airspace as a justification for the decision to control the airports.
The fighting began in November 2020 when Ethiopian forces sought to wrest control of the area from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.