The rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has begun handing over weapons as per the peace deal it reached nearly a month ago with the federal government of Ethiopia.
The move marks a significant step forward to end the two-year bloody conflict between the two sides. Nearly a million people are estimated to have died due to the conflict that broke out in November 2020.
According to information reaching Mereja.com, the TPLF has ordered its combatants to gather at the rehabilitation centers where they would hand over weapons.
The United States reportedly pledged $10 billion for the rehabilitation of war affected Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions if the peace deal is materialized successfully.
Olusegun Obasanjo, African Union Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa and Chief mediator of the Ethiopian Peace agreement signed in Pretoria, said the cost of reconstruction and rehabilitation of private and public properties and institutions has been estimated at about $25 billion.
The start of the disarmament came after the withdrawal of the Eritrean troops from the Tigray region and unfettered flow of aid to the region.
The federal government said it is exerting all efforts to ensure aid delivery to Tigray as more than 1000 trucks carrying humanitarian assistance reached the northern Ethiopian region.
It is recalled that TPLF had been accumulating heavy weapons including missiles and rockets while it took control of the central power in the government structure for nearly three decades. It also allegedly took possession of a significant number of heavy weapons after it attacked the North Command of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) on November 4. 2020.
