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Ethiopia has ensured that Eritrean troops fighting in the conflict-affected Tigray region “began evacuating” a day after the G7 group of leading nations called for their swift withdrawal.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced last week that Eritrean forces would leave Tigray, in the north of the country, just three days after finally acknowledging their presence amid growing reports of massacres and widespread sexual violence.
But residents of some cities and towns in Tigray continued to report the presence of Eritrean soldiers in recent days.
The G7, to that end, said in a statement on Friday that its departure “must be swift, unconditional and verifiable.”
In a response posted online Saturday night, the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry said the process had begun.
“As announced last week, Eritrean troops who had crossed the border when provoked by the TPLF have now begun to evacuate,” the statement said, adding that the Ethiopian army has now “taken over border surveillance. national”.
The TPLF is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, the former ruling party in Tigray that dominated national politics in Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Abiy took power in 2018.
Friday’s G7 statement also called for an “independent, transparent and impartial investigation” of alleged human rights abuses and “unimpeded humanitarian access.”
The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry statement on Saturday said a joint investigation involving “international human rights experts” would begin soon. He also said that foreign aid to respond to the conflict remains “too low.”
Read also | G7 urges Eritreans to withdraw quickly from Tigray as stalemate looms
Abiy sent troops to Tigray in November, a move he said came in response to TPLF-orchestrated attacks on federal army camps.
Addis Ababa and Asmara have long denied that Eritreans were active in Tigray, contradicting testimony from residents, human rights groups, humanitarian workers, diplomats and even some Ethiopian civil and military officials.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) had previously accused Eritrean troops of massacring hundreds of people in the town of Axum in Tigray in November.
