Tigray rebels hand over heavy weapons to Ethiopian army

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - Tigray rebels handed over their heavy weapons to Ethiopia’s national army in the presence of a monitoring team comprising members of the two sides and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body.

The handover was held in the town of Agulae, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) northeast of the Tigray regional capital Mekelle.

Aleme Tadesse, an Ethiopian army representative, said: “Both us and the TDF (Tigray Defense Forces) have moved from our respective defensive positions in peace, understanding and love.”

“We are all part of one Ethiopia,” he added.

“Tigray has handed over its heavy weapons as part of its commitment to implementing the #Pretoria agreement, and the Monitoring & Verification Team has confirmed it. We hope & expect this will go a long way in expediting the full implementation of the agreement. We hope & expect!”, Getachew Reda, an adviser to the president of the Tigray regional administration, said on Twitter.

The war between Ethiopian government forces and Tigray rebels erupted in November 2020 after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked federal army bases stationed in the northern region.

Hostilities subsided after the two sides signed agreements in Pretoria and Nairobi in November last year.

The Tigray conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions more since November 2020.

A UN report released late last year placed the number of displaced people at 2.75 million, with some 12.5 million children said to be in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.