By John Ikani
Tigray rebels have recaptured the north Ethiopian town of Lalibela, Reuters and AFP news agency have reported, citing local residents.
Lalibela is home to 11 medieval rock-cut churches and a site of pilgrimage for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The 11 monolithic cave churches in Lalibela, carved out of rock in the 12th and 13th Centuries, were designated a Unesco world heritage site in 1978.
Tigrayan fighters “are in the town centre, there’s no fighting,” said a resident reached by telephone on Sunday afternoon.
There was reportedly no exchange of fire as the town, a UN World Heritage site, swapped hands.
One witness told the Reuters agency that forces allied to the federal government began leaving Lalibela on Saturday night.
“The last batch left this morning. We heard gunshots from a distance last night but the Tigrayan forces recaptured Lalibela without firing guns in the town,” the witness is quoted as saying.
The recapture of Lalibela comes less than two weeks after government forces and their allies took control of the UNESCO World Heritage town.
The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel group’s military leadership said in a statement shared with pro-TPLF media they had launched “widespread counter-offensives” in numerous locations including along the road linking Gashena and Lalibela.
“Our forces first defended and then carried out counter-offensives against the massive force that was attacking the front at Gashena and the surrounding areas to achieve a glorious victory,” it said.
There has been no comment from the government. But on Saturday Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said in a tweet that he had returned to the front line and government forces had captured a series of strategic towns on the road to Tigray’s capital, Mekelle.
Last week, Lalibela residents told AFP that while the Tigrayan fighters had respected the holy sites during their time in the town between August and November, they made life difficult for the people.
Rebels reportedly demanded food and mobile telephones. They also looted medical stores, AFP reported.
Speaking on Sunday, one witness said that many people had left the town “because there might be a revenge. We expressed our happiness before when the [Tigrayans] left.”
Fighting broke out over a year ago between government troops and the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopia for decades and now controls most of Tigray.
Mr Abiy sent troops into the Tigray region to quash the TPLF after he said it had attacked army camps.
But in June this year, the rebels mounted a comeback, recapturing most of Tigray and advancing into the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.
Fears of the rebels approaching Addis Ababa led several countries, including the US and UK, to urge their citizens to leave Ethiopia last month.
Since then, the federal army has retaken a number of key town on the road leading to the capital.
