Eritrea to withdraw its forces from Tigray, says Ethiopia’s PM
The Ethiopian government says Eritrean forces entered Tigray during the recent conflict in response to rocket fire.
CAPE TOWN, March 26 (ANA) – After three reports implicating Eritrean forces in human rights abuses in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the leaders of the two countries have agreed to withdraw Eritrean soldiers.
The announcement comes after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed admitted to the soldiers’ presence for the first time this week since the conflict in the Tigray region erupted on November 4, 2020.
Abiy announced that “the government of Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces out of the Ethiopian border” after a meeting with Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki concluded on Friday.
According to the statement, Eritrean forces were only attempting to maintain their national security after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling government of Ethiopia’s restive northern Tigray region, fired rockets over two Ethiopian cities and Asmara in Eritrea.
The TPLF’s actions provoked Eritrean forces to cross the border, the statement said.
The rockets were fired shortly after the TPLF attempted to take control of the federal Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) base in Tigray on November 4.
Ethiopia launched a military offensive against those responsible in Tigray, which concluded on November 28.
The recent statement places Eritrean forces within Ethiopian borders shortly after November 4.
Abiy only admitted to Eritrean forces’ presence in Tigray on March 22, 2021, the BBC reported.
The Ethiopian-Eritrean border is of significance, considering Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in resolving the 20-year border conflict in 2018 between the two countries.
Two reports on massacres in Aksum, Tigray and Maryam Dengelat church were released earlier this month, implicating Eritrean forces.
On March 15, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) released their report stating that nearly 70% of health-care facilities in Tigray were looted and 30% were damaged, implicating Eritrean forces, too.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has corroborated claims made against Eritrean forces in each report through its own investigation, released on March 23.
The Eritrean government previously dismissed the Aksum report as “utterly false”, since it claimed its forces had not been in Ethiopia at all, the BBC reported on March 11.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher