Ethiopian soldiers move towards Tigray amid humanitarian truce
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Staff reporter GAROWE ONLINE
- Posted On 29-03-2022, 07:46AM
ADDIS ABABA - Dozens of Ethiopian National Defense Forces [ENDF] have been sighted near a border town in northern Tigray, Bloomberg reports, despite the recent declaration of a truce between Addis Ababa and Mekelle.
The Tigray Defense Forces [TDF] and the Ethiopian government agreed to have free movement of humanitarian groups to the Tigray region, over 17 months after the deadly war in the Horn of Africa nation started, leaving thousands of people dead and millions displaced.
According to the reports, soldiers were sighted traveling in 32 buses near Kobo town within the Amhara region of Ethiopia, just a few kilometers south of Tigray, with a number of them suspected to have been replacing their colleagues according to Addisu Wedajo, the town’s mayor,
Whereas the addition of the troops could have way for smooth humanitarian access to Tigray, their presence in Amhara could trigger more conflicts given the area's regional forces have previously been accused of blocking humanitarian assistance to Tigray.
“Neither the people nor the regional government has adopted the truce,” Addisu said. “There is a fear that we will be at risk if the federal forces move, so everyone is holding their ground.”
The agreement reached between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front on March 25 is the closest the two sides have come to a cease-fire since hostilities erupted in November 2020. The government didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the deployment.
Getachew Reda, the spokesperson of Tigray Defense Forces, said the outfit is closely monitoring the development at the border with Amhara. The TDF had previously engaged both ENDF and Amhara regional troops in fistfighting along the border.
“At this stage, there is no indication that such movements are meant for securing the road for aid,” he said. “Nor are we particularly at this point worried that the new reinforcements are meant to overrun our positions.”
According to Yilikal Kefale, president of the Amhara region, on March 22 told officials that the federal government and its regional allies planned to bolster troop numbers.
“The Ethiopia National Defense Force is now in training in order to carry this out. It has been engaged in organizing, training, and strengthening itself,” he said. “The Amhara region is building a very large force.”
The fighting erupted when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an incursion into Tigray after troops loyal to regional authorities attacked a federal army base. That followed months of tension stemming from Abiy’s sidelining of the TDF, which had previously been the nation’s preeminent power broker.
The United Nations and several other stakeholders have been calling for a truce between Addis Ababa and Mekelle, but both parties had remained defiant in their respective courses. Over 6 million people are said to be facing imminent hunger.
African Union, IGAD, and the United Nations Security Council are some of the global bodies which welcomed the humanitarian truce between the two sides. But some other quarters believe Abiy Ahmed was not genuine with his pronouncement.
GAROWE ONLINE
