US State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “If we are actually witnessing a withdrawal of Tigray forces into the Tigray region, that is something we welcome and we hope that opens a broader door for diplomacy.”
Price did not confirm the withdrawal announced Monday by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to its region after it advanced in recent months in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, and the spokesman only said: “We are aware of this information.”
“We have always called for a cessation of hostilities, in particular the return of the TPLF forces to Tigray” and for “a negotiated solution to the conflict,” he added.
Tigray leader
Earlier, the commander of the Tigrayan forces in Ethiopia, Debretsion Gebremichael, said that his fighters outside the region were ordered to withdraw and return to the besieged federal state.
In a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Gebremichael proposed an immediate ceasefire, followed by negotiations.
In the letter, Gebremichael said: “I have ordered the units of the Tigray Army that are outside the Tigray frontiers to retreat back into the state frontier at once.”
The letter included other proposals, including the establishment of a no-fly zone over Tigray to prevent hostile flights, and the imposition of an international arms embargo on Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The order for the troops to return to Tigray came after the Ethiopian Federal Army and its allies made significant advances in recent weeks.
Ethiopian forces retook major cities and towns in the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, forcing the Tigrayan fighters to retreat further into their area.
For his part, Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray region, confirmed today, Monday, the completion of the withdrawal.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in the war that erupted in November 2020 between Ethiopian forces and fighters from the Tigray region, who dominated the national government before Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in 2018.
Under a months-long government blockade, some of Tigray’s 6 million people are starving to death.
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