Voice of America
29 Jan 2023, 04:06 GMT+10
NAIROBI - A senior U.S. official said Saturday that Eritrean troops are still in Ethiopia although they have moved back the border, contradicting Ethiopian authorities who say the Eritreans have already left.
Eritrean troops fought alongside the Ethiopian military and allied militias in the two-year conflict that pitted the Ethiopian government against rebellious forces in the northern region of Tigray.
In November, however, the Ethiopia government and the Tigray forces signed an agreement to end the hostilities. That agreement mandated the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Tigray.
'With respect to Eritreans we understand they have moved back to the border, and they have been asked to leave,' U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at a news conference during a visit to the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
She did not provide any evidence or source for this assessment. Eritrea's information minister Yemane Gebremeskel did not respond to a Reuters' request for comment.
The Tigray war, which begun in November 2020, resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and forced millions to flee their homes. The possible continuing presence of Eritrean troops in Tigray thus has been seen as a key obstacle to effective implementation of the deal.
A senior Ethiopia military officer briefing foreign officials on Saturday denied there were any Eritrean troops in the country.
'There is no other security force in the Tigray region except the FDRE Defense Forces,' Major General Teshome Gemechu said, using an acronym for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
A spokesperson for the Tigrayan forces, Getachew Reda, dismissed claims that the Eritrean troops had left Tigray and said 'thousands' were still there.
Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu, Redwan Hussein, national security advisor to the prime minister, and Colonel Getnet Adane, spokesperson to Ethiopian Army also did not respond to requests for comment on claims by Thomas-Greenfield and Getachew.
Get a daily dose of Africa Leader news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Africa Leader.
More InformationIn Warsaw last February, President Joe Biden condemned the lawless Russian invasion of Ukraine: "The idea that over 100,000 forces ...
TOKYO, Japan: Fears over intensifying Chinese military activity directed towards Taiwan could escalate into war have prompted Japan, the United ...
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: After Honduran President Xiomara Castro severed ties with Taiwan in favor of China to gain more investment and ...
NEW YORK, New York - A Manhattan grand jury has indicted Former U.S. President Donald Trump for his role in ...
MEMPHIS, Tennessee: Tennessee authorities are slowly releasing information about a weekend car crash on a freeway that killed six young ...
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Officials from Indonesia's Aceh province said that more than 180 Rohingya Muslims landed this week by boat, in ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks finished the third quarter with a bang on Friday. Despite a volatile start, ...
CUPERTINO, California: In a move aimed at disrupting the fintech sector dominated by Affirm Holdings and Sweden's Klarna, this week ...
BURBANK, California: Walt Disney has begun its planned lay off of 7,000 staff, which was announced earlier this year.A letter ...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: A study published this week reported that China spent $240 billion between 2008 and 2021 ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks posted a decent rally on Thursday with all the major indices making good ...
FREMONT, California: Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain implant company, has approached the Barrow Neurological Institute, one of the largest US neurosurgery ...