Afwerki: Stop fabrications, Eritrea has nothing to do with Tigray conflict

NAIROBI, Kenya - Ethiopia should concentrate on solving her internal issues amicably without dragging Eritrea, President Isaias Afwerki has said, noting that the Red Sea nation has "nothing to do with Tigray conflict" which left thousands of people dead and millions displaced from the northern region of Ethiopia.

While fielding questions from reporters in State House, Nairobi, Afwerki, who was in the company of his host William Ruto, struggled to give accurate information over the alleged involvement of Eritrean troops in Tigray conflict, which had lasted for two years before a temporary solution for cessation of hostilities was reached.

"You should not ask me those questions because Ethiopia is not here," Afwerki told one of the reporters. "You see, Eritrea does not have any issues with Ethiopia as some of you would want us to believe. We solved our issues in 2018 and since then, we have been very good neighbors."

He added: " It is wrong for the media and enemies of Eritrea to fabricate stories about us and the events in Tigray which are unfortunate. For us, we have nothing to do with those things as long as our boundaries are protected. Our troops have nothing at all and absolutely no role in Tigray. "

But Afwerki, a close ally of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was quick to praise the recently signed peace pact between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front "TPLF] which led to cessation of hostilities in November 2022, over two years after the conflict was triggered.

" There is huge progress and Nairobi and Pretoria treaties are being implemented by both parties, " he said. " We can only wish the parties to respect the accord so that we can have a peaceful Horn of Africa. We hope Ethiopia can prevail and I don't see why Eritrea is being dragged into the matter all the time. "

Eritrea was adversely mentioned as one of the countries that had gone against the international treaties by deploying soldiers to Tigray to assist the Ethiopian National Defense Forces [ENDF] which was at war with TPLF. One of the preconditions for peace deal was withdrawal of Eritrean troops from Tigray.

Multiple sources confirmed last week that a number of those soldiers had pulled out of Tigray's towns of Shire and Axum, but their presence is still felt in several parts of Tigray region. The soldiers are accused of overseeing genocide in Tigray, a claim which Asmara despites.

On his part, Ruto reiterated that he was "impressed" with the peace deal which he noted that it will improve stability in the Horn of Africa. "The president [Afwerki] has made it clear, we are all happy with the process so far in Tigray and hopefully, in coming weeks, everything shall settle down," he said.

Ruto, who is hosting Afwerki for two days, also lauded Eritrea for training Somali National Army [SNA] who are involved in the fight against Al-Shabaab. He said the training of the soldiers gives them necessary "skills" to tackle rising cases of violent extremism which have jeopardized peace processes in Somalia.

"We want to congratulate Eritrea for training over 5,000 Somali soldiers and even taking in more. We want the country to stabilize and the only route is to empower her security and this is what Eritrea has done," Ruto said, while disclosing that Kenya will soon open her mission in Asmara.

Thousands of Somali soldiers who have been training in Eritrea since 2019 have been repatriated to their homes and some have since joined the Somali National Army in the fight against Al-Shabaab. Also, the country took in 3000 soldiers recently who will be undergoing further training in Eritrea to enable their skills.

GAROWE ONLINE