One more step towards restoring peace. On Wednesday, according to a spokesman, the Tigrayan rebels began to surrender their heavy weapons to the public authorities. This announcement follows an agreement signed more than two months ago to end a deadly conflict in northern Ethiopia.
“Tigray has handed over its heavy weapons as part of its commitment to implement the Pretoria agreement”, signed on November 2 between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan rebels, Getachew Reda said in a tweet.
Disarmament “should be complete by the end of January”
The November 2 peace agreement provides for the disarmament of rebel forces, the restoration of federal authority in Tigray and the reopening of access and communications to this region cut off from the world since mid-2021.
Disarmament “should be complete by the end of January,” Nuur Mohamud Sheekh, spokesman for the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), a group of seven East African countries responsible for overseeing peace agreement.
“We welcome the progress made in the implementation of the agreement. The parties stuck to it,” the spokesperson continued.
According to a document relating to the implementation of the agreement signed on November 12 in Nairobi, “the disarmament of heavy weapons (Tigerian) will be done simultaneously with the withdrawal of foreign and non-federal forces”, with particular reference to Eritrea , a country bordering Tigray which supports the Ethiopian army in the region. Asmara did not participate in the Pretoria negotiations.
An aid worker, requesting his anonymity, said Eritrean troops were still present in Shire, northwest Tigray, on Wednesday, as were Amhara forces.