First peace negotiations on Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict in South Africa

• The government announced on Tuesday that the Ethiopian army had taken control of three towns in the northern province of Tigray.
• A top official had earlier claimed that the war was “being extinguished.”
• The administration made the biggest changes to the battlefield since that offensive and counteroffensive this week.

The government announced on Tuesday that the Ethiopian army had taken control of three towns in the northern province of Tigray, one to the northwest and two to the south of the regional capital Mekelle. A top official had earlier claimed that the war was “being extinguished.”

Two years of intermittent fighting between the Tigray forces and the Ethiopian military and allies, including troops from neighboring Eritrea, has resulted in thousands of deaths, millions of displaced people, and hundreds of thousands on the verge of hunger.

Ethiopia’s government communications agency issued a statement claiming that “the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) has gained control of the towns of Shire, Alamata, and Korem without fighting in urban areas.”

An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by a spokeswoman for the Tigray military. Shire had previously been recognized as being out of Tigray authorities’ jurisdiction.

Shire, one of the largest towns in the area, is situated around 140 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Mekelle. Shire has an airport. Tens of thousands of individuals who were uprooted by the violence from other locations now reside there.

The main road leading to the neighboring region of Amhara passes through Korem and Alamata, which are located respectively 170 km and 180 km south of Mekelle.

People in Mekelle, according to a local, are hurrying to stockpile necessities as tensions between the United States and Eritrea escalate. The individual, who requested anonymity out of concerns for their safety, claimed that costs had increased 10% and would likely increase higher if troops arrived.

The Tigray war is a result of long-standing conflicts over who should have control of Ethiopia as a whole and how authority should be distributed between the federal and regional governments.

Late last year, Tigrayan forces entered Amhara and went as far as Debre Sina, a town only 190 km from Addis Abeba, before being driven back within Tigray’s borders.

The administration made the biggest changes to the battlefield since that offensive and counteroffensive this week.

The violence was not spiralling, according to Redwan Hussien, the national security adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a subtly worded jab at U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who said on Monday that it was getting out of control.

“When it was extended to other areas, it spiraled. It is currently only fading and degenerating “Redwan remarked, implying that the administration thought it had made significant military progress.

The United Nations human rights office expressed worry over some of the government troops’ indiscriminate airstrikes in Tigray.

The national army was taking “utmost care,” according to the government’s statement, to protect civilians.

According to the statement, the government would work with humanitarian organizations to organize preparations for bringing aid and restoring services to regions it now controls.

The African Union-sponsored discussions should begin right once, and Eritrean troops should leave Ethiopia, according to the United Nations, the European Union, and numerous senior U.S. government officials.

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