Tuesday April 26, 2022
Rebellious Tigrayan forces are completely withdrawing from
the neighbouring region of Afar in Ethiopia, a spokesperson for the Tigrayan
forces told Reuters on Monday, saying he hoped it meant that desperately needed
food aid could finally pour into famine-hit Tigray.
“Our forces have left all of Afar,” Getachew Reda, a
spokesperson for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), told Reuters on
Monday.
Reuters could not immediately independently confirm
Getachew’s statement.
Afar’s police commissioner Ahmed Harif said Tigrayan forces
had withdrawn from the town of Abala but were still in three of the region’s
districts.
He said the forces were also in control of the highway between
Abala and Tigray’s capital Mekelle, and that he was in touch with local
officials and militias who were keeping him updated.
Government spokesperson Legesse Tulu could not be reached
for comment.
Fighting in northern Ethiopia, which began in November 2020
in the Tigray region and spilled over into Afar last year, has eased since the
federal government declared a unilateral ceasefire last month, saying it would
allow humanitarian aid to enter.
Tigrayan forces said they would respect the ceasefire as
long as sufficient aid was delivered to their region “within reasonable time”.
Only a trickle of aid has made it into Tigray, where more
than 90% of the population need food aid, since the Ethiopian military pulled
out at the end of June after months of bloody clashes.
The United Nations has blamed bureaucracy and insecurity for
blocking convoys and said at least 100 trucks of aid are needed to enter Tigray
every day.
Only 144 trucks have made it in since the ceasefire was
announced a month ago, with the latest 74 arriving on Monday, according to the
U.N. World Food Programme.
It was unclear if the pull-out was negotiated with the
Ethiopian government.
The conflict in northern Ethiopia has killed thousands of
civilians and displaced millions across three regions in Ethiopia and into
neighbouring Sudan.
The TPLF has accused Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of
trying to centralise power at the expense of the regions and Abiy has accused
the TPLF of trying to regain national power - accusations each side has denied.
(Reporting by Addis Ababa Newsroom; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by
Katharine Houreld and Rosalba O’Brien)