Ethiopia Reported Intense Fighting in North Wollo

September 29, 2022

Borkena 

There was intensive fighting between Ethiopian Forces and TPLF rebels in the North Wollo area of the Amhara region. It was in the Gobiye area – which is about 20 kilometers north of Wolida, the seat of the North Wollo zone administration, the battle was fought. 

The VOA Amharic service report on Wednesday cited what it called eyewitnesses from the Gobiye area who confirmed that the war is raging in the area. 

“The war was with heavy weaponry which is not the case today. Today it seems that the war is at a close distance as we have been hearing intense fighting with AK 47 and Bren machine guns,” one of the witnesses told VOA Amharic. 

Another eyewitness from the Alawuha area- which is only about 10 kilometers north of Woldia – who preferred to remain anonymous said that he heard intense fighting with heavy weaponry. But he said that the enemy is retreating to Gobiye. 

We are witnessing situations that civilians could not withstand, the witness added. 

The report is not verified by other sources. The Ethiopian government has been silent about the war. 

What is clear is that the TPLF, despite a false report by Aljazeera about one month ago of regional rebel forces in control of Woldia, is unable to make further advances to even control Gobiye. 

The fighting is underway on other fronts in Westm, from the Waghumra area and from Afar regions close to the Tigray area.  

On Wednesday, TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda made claims, in a Twitter message, that Eritrean troops were attempting to engage what it calls Tigray’s defense Force from Berhale direction in the Afar region but it lost the battle. 

He even made claims that his forces annihilated five divisions of the army and that they had killed top Eritrean commanders – something with which Eritrean activists were laughing. Many Eritrean, and Ethiopian activists, were bluffing Getachew Reda’s claims. 

It was not too long ago when he was making complaints that the Eritrean forces were shelling Adigrat city with heavy artillery. 

As always, the Eritrean government did not even bother to respond to Getachew Reda’s claim. 

Much of the information about the state of the war comes from Getachew Reda when he tweets about it or when he has a presser with Tigray TV journalists. 

Mainstream media in the west seem to be abandoning the habit of glorifying TPLF “military victory” too. 

Not much is definitively known about the war but there are indications that the TPLF is slowly losing military and political ground. Some even predict its demise as a designated terrorist group. 

 In a holiday message for Meskel, the Prime Minister said that “the hand stretched for peace is not yielding results.”