KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) – Ethiopia’s prime minister said on Friday that Eritrea had agreed to withdraw its forces from the Tigray region, where witnesses described them looting, killing and raping civilians.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office statement comes after intense pressure from the United States and other countries to tackle the deadly crisis in Tigray.
Abiy’s statement after a visit to Eritrea said that Ethiopian forces would take over the border areas “with immediate effect”.
Only last week did Abiy acknowledge the presence of Eritrean soldiers, long an enemy of the Tigray leaders who once dominated the Ethiopian government.
The new statement does not say how many Eritrean soldiers were in Ethiopia, although witnesses estimated it in the thousands.
There was no immediate comment from Eritrea, one of the most secret countries in the world.
Abiy shocked the region in 2018 by making peace with Eritrea after a long border war in the Tigray region, an achievement for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize. But since the current Tigray conflict started in November, Abiy has been accused to join Eritrea to pursue the now fugitive leaders of Tigray.
Abiy’s statement accuses former Tigray leaders of starting the conflict by attacking Ethiopian forces and then dragging Eritrea into the fight by firing rockets at the capital of Eritrea. But witnesses claimed the involvement of Eritrean soldiers since the fighting began.
The United States demanded weeks ago that Eritrean soldiers leave Tigray immediately, and pressure has increased in recent days with the Biden government dispatching Senator Chris Coons to Ethiopia almost a week ago for hour-long talks with Abiy.
No one knows how many thousands of people, especially civilians, were killed in the Tigray conflict. The region of about 6 million people has been largely isolated from the world and, despite some progress in delivering aid, aid workers have warned that the food and other supplies that arrive are far from sufficient amid fears of hunger .
And only in the past few days has the United Nations human rights office said it has been allowed to enter the Tigray region in a limited capacity to support investigations into alleged atrocities, including mass rapes by Eritrean soldiers and others.
A spokeswoman for Abiy’s office did not immediately respond to questions about Friday’s statement, including why the Eritreans did not withdraw following previous requests.