Eritrean troops withdraw from Ethiopia's northern Tigray region

MEKELLE, Ethiopia - After months of claims of human rights abuse, rape, and murder, troops from Eritrea fighting in the Tigray region of Ethiopia have withdrawn, reports indicate, just hours after the federal government of Ethiopia declared unilateral ceasefire in the region.

For months, the Eritrean troops have been controlling sections of northern Tigray, but the federal government had denied the initial reports. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed would later admit their presence and even pledged to have them withdrawn.

Witnesses told AP that the troops left parts of Shire, Axum, and Adwa, where they have been operating for the last eight months contrary to the international laws. It's not clear if their retreat was temporary as a strategy to counter Tigray People's Liberation Front [TPLF].

Eritrea Information Ministry which has for a long time spoken about former Tigrayan rulers did not respond to questions about that withdrawal of the troops. The exact number of Eritrea troops serving in Tigray could not be established.

“We don’t yet know if they are withdrawing” from Tigray altogether, acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Godec told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He said the U.S. had seen no statement from Eritrea saying it was committed to the cease-fire after “what appears to be a significant withdrawal of Ethiopian national defense forces from Tigray.”

Since November, the Tigray People's Liberation Front otherwise known as Tigray Defense Forces [TDF] has been waging a guerilla war against Ethiopia National Defense Forces [ENDF] and the Eritrean troops having been flushed out of key towns like Mekelle.

Ever since he took over as Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed has been accused by TPLF of ignoring the region, which has been in power for years. Top military officials did not respond to queries on the alleged withdrawal of Eritrea troops from the Tigray region.

The arrival of Tigray forces in the regional capital, Mekele, on Monday was met with cheers. The fighters on Tuesday moved into Axum and Shire, a town that in recent months saw the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing intimidation in western Tigray and is a key staging area for humanitarian aid.

Tigray forces are now in control of much of the region after a major counteroffensive with mass popular support, International Crisis Group analyst William Davison said in a statement. They are “now in a position to facilitate access to many previously hard to reach areas,” he said, urging Ethiopia’s government not to sabotage the urgent humanitarian efforts.

But the Tigray forces’ talk “indicates how distrustful they are of the cease-fire,” Aly Verjee, a senior adviser at the United States Institute of Peace, told AP. “Of course, I think it’s highly irresponsible for them to say such things. It doesn’t do anything for people on the brink of famine. At the same time, I understand they’re motivated by deep suspicion of Eritrean forces in particular.”

Major questions remained about the fate of the more than 1 million civilians that the United Nations has said remain in parts of Tigray that have been hard, if not impossible, to reach with aid. The United States has said up to 900,000 people now face famine conditions, in the world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade.

That famine “is entirely man-made,” the acting U.S. assistant secretary of state said.

Sarah Charles, assistant to the administrator for the United States Agency for International Development, told the Washington hearing that the next week or two will be consequential. She urged Ethiopia to lift a “communications blackout” on Tigray and said forces from the Amhara region must lift checkpoints on key roads for aid delivery.

GAROWE ONLINE