About 65 percent of rebel fighters have been “decoupled” from front lines in the Tigray region, a month after a peace deal was signed with the Ethiopian federal government, the commander-in-chief of rebel forces said.
“We have started the withdrawal and transfer of our forces from the front lines, progressing well. […] Of (all) our armed forces, 65% of them have gone through this process, disengaged from the front lines and headed to certain places,” the head of state, Tigrayan Armed Forces Major Tadesse Worede, told reporters on Saturday.
However, the commander pointed to the presence of “forces in the region that do not want peace and are obstacles to peace”, referring to the Eritrean army and regional forces and militias in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, which the Ethiopian army in the conflict that began in November 2020.
“The problems they are causing and the abuses they are inflicting on the population are not secret, so we have paused the disengagement operations in certain locations to prevent them from continuing their atrocities against the population,” he said he further.
Once those threats are removed, “we will go ahead with (a withdrawal) 100%,” he assured.
General Tadesse also pointed out that the Tigrayan rebels “began to collect (their) heavy weapons and gather them in one place.”
Tigrayan rebels and the Ethiopian government signed a peace deal in Pretoria on November 2 to end two years of conflict that has ravaged northern Ethiopia.
In particular, this agreement provides for the disarmament of rebel forces, the restoration of federal authority in Tigray and the reopening of access to this region, which is in a catastrophic humanitarian situation.
According to a document implementing the agreement signed in Nairobi on November 12, “heavy arms disarmament (Tigerians) will occur simultaneously with the withdrawal of foreign and non-federal forces.”
The conflict in Tigray began in November 2020 when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army there to arrest leaders in the region who had questioned his authority for months and whom he accused of attacking federal military bases.
Initially defeated, the Tigray rebels regained control of most of the region in 2021 in a counteroffensive that spilled over into Amhara and Afar, and brought them closer to Addis Ababa. The rebels then withdrew to Tigray.
The outcome of this conflict, which was marked by countless attacks and mostly took place behind closed doors, is unknown. But the International Crisis Group (ICG) and Amnesty International (AI) call it “one of the deadliest in the world.”
The war has also displaced more than two million Ethiopians and plunged hundreds of thousands into starvation, according to the United Nations.