On Wednesday, Tigray fighters announced they were handing over their heavy weapons under the terms of a peace deal they signed in South Africa with the Ethiopian government last November to end a two-year devastating war in the region. region abroad after the lockdown, which has lasted since mid-2021, and continued: “We hope and expect that this issue will greatly contribute to accelerating the full implementation of the agreement, we hope and count.” territory abroad.
And the document regarding the implementation of the agreement signed in Nairobi said: “The disarmament of heavy weapons (in Tigray) will take place simultaneously with the withdrawal of foreign and non-federal forces”, referring specifically to Eritrea, which has borders with Tigray and supports the Ethiopian army in the region .Asmara did not participate in the peace talks.
A delegation from the Ethiopian government, in the presence of National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister Radwan Hussein, as well as several ministers (of justice, transport, communications, industry and labor), left on December 26 for Mekella, the capital of Ethiopia. Tigray region, during the first official visit in more than two years, which represents an important stage in the peace process, and after a few days later, on December 29, the Federal Police entered Mekelle for the first time in 18 months, mainly to “ensure institution security.
Significantly, the fighting in Tigray began in November 2020, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to arrest officials in the region who had resisted his authority for months and accused them of carrying out attacks on federal military bases.
The outcome of this brutal conflict, much of which took place in the shadows, is unknown, but the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International consider it “one of the deadliest in the world.”
After the Pretoria Agreement, hostilities ceased and the rebels confirmed that they had withdrawn 65% of their fighters from the front lines.
However, they condemn the “atrocities” committed by the Eritrean army and the forces of the Amhara region, which supported the federal army in the conflict, and the Tigray authorities accuse these parties of looting, rape, liquidation and kidnapping of civilians, and on a humanitarian level, despite the intensification of operations, the humanitarian and medical care remains below enormous needs.
The conflict has displaced more than two million Ethiopians and plunged hundreds of thousands into conditions close to starvation, according to the United Nations. The United Nations also reports that the two-year war has left 13.6 million people dependent on humanitarian aid in northern Ethiopia. , 5.4 million in Tigray and seven million in Amhara and 1.2 million in Afar.
