(Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian government forces are closing in on the capital of the dissident Tigray region, where fighting that erupted on Nov. 4 has left hundreds of people dead and sparked a humanitarian crisis.
“Our defense forces are moving forward and closing in on Mekele,” Redwan Hussein, Ethiopia's state minister of foreign affairs and spokesman for the government's Emergency Task Force, told reporters in the capital, Addis Ababa. “There are a number of towns that have fallen.”
The government has dispatched two fact-finding missions to Tigray to assess the extent of the humanitarian crisis, Redwan said.
“The government is trying to find routes and to find safe corridors” for humanitarian aid, he said, adding that the situation is being impeded by Tigray forces destroying bridges providing access to the region.
READ: Ethiopian Conflict Precipitates Mounting Humanitarian Crisis (1)
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