Name: Ethiopia PM Abiy Ahmed: Eritrea to withdraw troops from Tigray |DW News
Uploaded: 2021-03-27T18:45:25.000Z
Duration: 4 min 11 s
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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiomed says Eritrea has agreed to withdrew withdraw its troops from the Ethiopian region of Tigray.

UM, it says Ethiopia's military will take over the guarding of border areas.

Amnesty International has accused Eritrean troops of committing atrocities in the region.

Thousands of people have been killed since fighting began last November between Ethiopian government troops and the region's former ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which is also an enemy of Eritrea.

Let's get some perspective on this story now with William Davidson.

He's a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, an independent organization that has been monitoring the fighting in Ethiopia.

First of all, this is a very complex conflict.

Can you explain what Eritrean troops were doing in the Tigray region?

The Eritrean troops essentially have been assisting the Ethiopian federal government in its efforts to overthrow overthrow the regional government.

Integrate the war started in November early November to graze.

Government was overthrown in late November, but that government is now commanding essentially rebel forces, and fighting has been ongoing since then.

So Eritrean troops have been involved in that campaign to essentially eliminate the former, the leadership of the great government as a political force.

And those Eritrean troops have also been accused of systemic looting of public and private property, integrate rampant sexual violence and also atrocities against civilians, including mass mass killings.

We should mention that Eritrean and Ethiopian troops have been accused of these atrocities, and we've seen reports today that to refugee camps in Tigre have been completely destroyed.

Well, that's confirmation of of something which has essentially been known for a while.

The problem or one of the problems of this conflict verifying information.

There was still a telecommunications blackout, almost a total Internet blackout across to graze, so it's been hard for people to get information out.

It's been very hard for any sort of independent actor, um, to visit those two refugee camps.

Reports have come out, of course, but now we have confirmation because humanitarian actors have been there that the refugees have been displaced.

We don't know where all of those refugees have gone.

Some of them will be displaced integrate.

Some of them seem to have been captured and taken back to Eritrea.

Others will have fled further a field, Um and hopefully their whereabouts and their safety will be exposed in in due course.

If this is indeed a withdrawal by Eritrean troops, what does it mean?

Integrate the I think the caveat that you applied there, you know, if this is indeed a withdrawal, is very important.

Of course, this is a stated commitment to withdraw those troops.

But there's no admission of the actual engagement of Eritrea's troops in this conflict, which has been very significant.

The understanding is that as the conflict has intensified in the last couple of months and so has the error train engagement, Um given that it seems that if indeed there is a complete withdrawal of Eritrean troops, um in short order that would have a major impact on the conflict dynamics, it could lead to increased strengthening of the armed resistance.

And it is hard to imagine Ethiopia's federal government entirely crushing this rebellion.

Um, if Eritrea troops withdraw, therefore, is Ethiopia's federal government looking to pursue some sort of negotiated solution to this conflict?

Well, that follows from this announcement, but there has been no sign of the government seeking a negotiated solution so far.

William Davidson from the International Crisis Group.