Ethiopia's army now controls 70 per cent of the northern region of Tigray, a senior government official said on Friday.
Redwan Hussein, national security adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, also said aid had begun flowing into the region, where two years of fighting have created a severe humanitarian crisis.
“70 per cent of Tigray is under ENDF [Ethiopian National Defence Force],” Mr Redwan said in a post on Twitter.
He said 35 lorries carrying food and three lorries of medicine had been sent to the strategic city of Shire.
“Aid is flowing like no other times,” he said.
Mr Redwan's claims could not be independently verified as the government has severely restricted access to the region of six million people, including for journalists, since Mr Abiy sent the army there to fight the rebel Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in 2020.
Aid groups and international organisations say residents of Tigray have suffered a severe lack of food and medicine, and limited access to basic services including electricity, banking and communications, since fighting began.
The government and the TPLF signed a peace deal in the South African capital Pretoria on November 2 after little more than a week of negotiations brokered by the African Union.
It calls for the cessation of hostilities, restoration of humanitarian aid, the re-establishment of federal authority over Tigray and the disarming of TPLF fighters.
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Redwan Hussien Rameto, second left, representative of the Ethiopian government, and Getachew Reda, second right, representative of the Tigray People's Liberation Front, sign a peace agreement regarding the African Union-led negotiations to resolve conflict in Ethiopia at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation offices in Pretoria, South Africa. AFP -
Representatives from Ethiopia and representatives from Tigray attend a press conference. AFP -
Redwan Hussien Rameto, representative of the Ethiopian government. AFP -
Getachew Reda, representative of the Tigray People's Liberation Front. AFP -
Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, left, arrives for peace talks between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan People's Liberation Front. AFP -
Youngsters walk next to an abandoned tank south of the town of Mehoni, Ethiopia. AFP -
The airport in Bahir Dar, the capital city of the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia. AP -
Protestors outside the Emirates stadium in London raise awareness of conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Reuters -
UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi, centre, speaks with Clementine Nkweta-Salami, right, UNHCR regional bureau director for the East, Horn and Great Lakes regions of Africa. AP Photo -
A destroyed tank is seen in a field in the aftermath of fighting between the Ethiopian National Defence Force and the Tigray People's Liberation Front forces in Kasagita town, in Afar region, Ethiopia. Reuters -
Ethiopians protest at a rally organised by the city administration against what they say is interference by outsiders in the country's internal affairs and against the Tigray People's Liberation Front, the party of Tigray's fugitive leaders, in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. AP Photo -
A man waves an Ethiopian flag as he join others gathering in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during a demonstration in support of Ethiopia armed forces. AFP -
A satellite image shows the deployment of heavy weaponry in the town of Serha, Eritrea, near the border with Ethiopia's Tigray region. Reuters -
A man gestures as he shouts during a protest at the Embassy of the United States of America in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. AFP -
Workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross deliver lifesaving medical supplies into Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia. Reuters -
Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, left, meets with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters. AP Photo -
A convoy of trucks part of the World Food Programme (WFP) on their way to Tigray are seen in the village of Erebti, Ethiopia. The Afar region, the only passageway for humanitarian convoys bound for Tigray, is itself facing a serious food crisis, due to the combined effects of the conflict in northern Ethiopia and the drought in the Horn of Africa which have notably caused numerous population displacements. More than a million people need food aid in the region according to the World Food Programme. AFP -
Captive Ethiopian soldiers arrive at the Mekele Rehabilitation Centre in Tigray, Ethiopia, after a four-day journey from Abdi Eshir. All photos: AFP -
Women welcome Tigray People's Liberation Front fighters as they return to Mekele after seizing control of the city in June 2021. -
Ethiopians who fled the Tigray conflict wait to charge their phones at Um Raquba refugee camp in Gedaref, Sudan. -
A member of the Afar Special Forces stands in front of the debris of a house on the outskirts of the village of Bisober in Tigray. -
People hold candles and Ethiopian flags at a memorial service for the victims of the Tigray conflict in Addis Ababa. -
An Ethiopian refugee who fled fighting in Tigray waits behind a fence in a camp in Sudan. -
Refugees living in a camp in Sudan after fleeing violence in Tigray. -
A woman walks among the remains of a destroyed factory in Ataye, Ethiopia, where more than 100 civilians died in a recent flare-up of violence. -
Two members of the Amhara militia ride in the back of a pick-up truck. Amharas and Tigrayans were uneasy neighbours before the current fighting, with tension over land sparking violent clashes. -
Militias from the Amhara region have been involved in the fighting in Tigray. -
Tens of thousands of Ethiopians gather at a rally organised by the mayor of Addis Ababa to show support for the military's efforts in Tigray. -
Zeleke Alabachew, farmer and militia fighter, tends to his land near the village of Tekeldengy, Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation. -
People celebrate the liberation of opposition leaders in the city of Alamata, Ethiopia. -
A family fleeing violence sit in a former classroom at May Weyni secondary school, now hosting 10,500 displaced people, in Mekele, capital of Tigray. -
Ethiopian refugees travel to Sudan to escape violence in Tigray. -
Ethiopian refugees gather to celebrate the 46th anniversary of the Tigray People's Liberation Front at Um Raquba refugee camp in Gedaref, Sudan. The TPLF dominated Ethiopian politics before being ousted from their regional stronghold last year. -
An Ethiopian refugee sets up a tent in a camp in the town of Gedaref, Sudan, after being transported from the border reception centre. -
Pro-Tigrayan demonstrators display placards during a protest in front of the chancellery in Berlin. -
The aftermath of heavy shelling in Wukro, a city north of Mekele, in Ethiopia.
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday called for a massive influx of food and medicines into Tigray following the ceasefire deal, saying desperately-needed aid had not yet been allowed in.
“Many people are dying from treatable diseases. Many people are dying from starvation,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is from Tigray, said at a press conference.
“Even in the middle of fighting, civilians need food, need medicine. It cannot be a condition.”
Talks have been under way in the Kenyan capital Nairobi this week between representatives of the warring sides to follow up on the Pretoria deal.
The meetings were expected to discuss the disarmament of the rebels, while the AU said they should also provide a road map for immediate humanitarian access and restoration of services in Tigray.
The conflict between the TPLF and pro-government forces, which include regional militias and troops from neighbouring Eritrea, has forced more than two million people from their homes amid reports of horrific abuses by all parties.
Estimates of casualties vary widely, with the US saying that as many as half a million have died, while the EU's foreign envoy Josep Borrell said that more than 100,000 people may have been killed.
UN investigators have accused Addis Ababa of possible crimes against humanity in Tigray and of using starvation as a weapon of war — claims denied by the Ethiopian authorities.
Mr Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, sent troops into Tigray on November 4, 2020 to topple the TPLF, the region's ruling party, in response to what he said were attacks by the group on federal army camps.
— With reporting from AFP.
