A member of the Amhara Special Forces is monitoring the border crossing with Eritrea in Humera, Ethiopia.
Photographer: Eduardo Soteras / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Eduardo Soteras / AFP / Getty Images
One week after reaching an agreement with the Ethiopian prime minister to withdraw from the country’s Tigray region, Eritrean forces have shown no signs of leaving.
The forces have not vacated the area or shown any intention to leave, according to Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, whose forces have been fighting a coalition of Ethiopian federal forces, the Amhara regional forces. and Eritrean forces at Tigray for the past five months.
“They’re not gone,” Getachew said in an interview with Al Jazeera. “In fact, there is no intention on the part of the Eritrean regime to withdraw its forces.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced last week that Eritrea had agreed to withdraw its troops, days after he declared his presence in the region. The announcement followed increased diplomatic pressure as well as relative accusations crimes committed in the Tigray region in Ethiopia.
“In fact, since the announcement of Abyi’s tweet about Isaiah agreement to withdraw its forces, Eritrea has been increasing the influx of its forces into Tigray by leaps and bounds, “Getachew said, referring to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. The withdrawal is” unthinkable “for the survival of Abiy and the Eritrean president, Getachew said, and that tens of thousands of Ethiopian forces have died.
Abiy, who won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to resolve a long-standing border conflict with Eritrea, ordered a raid on Tigray after administrators in the region, Tigray People’s Liberation Front forces , attacked a federal military camp in the region. The decline in violence followed months of tensions between federal and regional authorities.
The European Union and the United Nations have condemned the atrocities reported in Tigray, and the latest ones have been G-7 foreign ministers issued a statement on Friday saying “we condemn the killing of civilians, sexual and gender-based violence, indiscriminate bombing and the forced displacement of Tigray and Eritrean refugee residents.”
The months of fighting have caused at least $ 1 billion in damage to Tigray’s infrastructure, according to the Ethiopian government.
Eritrean and Ethiopian authorities have not confirmed the withdrawal. The Eritrean Ministry of Information and the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately respond to questions.