The Amhara special force, which had been fighting the Tigrayan forces under the command of the federal army, withdrew from Shire Indaselassie and surrounding districts of Tigray region.
A farewell ceremony was held at Shire town in the presence of Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) General Abebaw Tadesse as the Amhara force left the areas based on the peace deal reached in Pretoria between Addis Ababa and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
TPLF has put the withdrawal of the Eritrean and non ENDF forces from the territories of Tigray as precondition before handing over heavy weapons to the national army based on the peace agreement.
Shire is part of what is called ‘Proper Tigray’. TPLF claims that the Eritrean and non ENDF forces must withdraw from Wolkait, Setit Humera, Telemet, Wag Emra, Alamata areas which it annexed from the Amhara people right after it came to power in 1991.
The Amhara forces regained these lands after heavy sacrifices following a conflict broke out between TPLF and federal government back in November 2020. There is potential fear that a conflict will erupt again if any force attempts to take these lands away from the Amhara people.
The Eritrean forces have withdrawn from some parts of Axum, Adwa, Shire areas of the Tigray region.
Meanwhile, TPLF is accused of offering military training to a rebel group known as ‘Agew Shengo’ in Wag Emera zone of neighbouring Amhara region.
According to information reaching Mereja.com, the TPLF has given the rebel group with various heavy weapons in a bid to keep away from national army which is disarming the TPLF combatants based on the AU brokered peace deal reached in Pretoria.
TPLF combatants and rebel groups took control of several districts including Aberegelle, of Amhara region where more 70, 000 residents are forced to leave,fleeing attacks and looming drought, said Mereja.com sources.
The over 70,000 displaced people are currently concentrated in Sekota town where they find no food to eat.
