Ethiopian troops: ‘We can re-enter Tigray in a few weeks if necessary’ | Stories in Eritrea

Troops have left the area to deal with ‘foreign’ threats, a government spokesman said.

Ethiopia said its troops could re-enter the Tigray headquarters of Mekelle in a few weeks if needed, repeating the ceasefire announced by Addis Ababa earlier this week in order to “help the people” in the defensive zone.

Comment Wednesday by Redwan Hussein, a spokesman for the Ethiopian Tigray faction, was the first and only official in the Ethiopian government since Mekelle was captured by Tigrayan troops this week.

The return followed a series of fruitful days with Tigrayan forces fighting against the Ethiopian government and its allies, including troops from neighboring Eritrea and fighters from Ethiopia’s Amhara region, which crosses the Tigray south.

“Ethiopia is being shown by foreigners” as a result of the war, Redwan told reporters he was appearing in Sudan.

‘There will be no more danger’

Lieutenant-General Bacha Debele similarly told reporters that Ethiopian troops had left Mekelle to prepare for the attacks except for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) terrorists.

“TPLF is no longer a threat, but we have (a) a lot of dangers in the country that we need to change,” Bacha told reporters.

On Tuesday, TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda said announcing the end of the war was a “joke”.

Getachew described the suspension of the gun as a political idea “designed to help”.

“If necessary, we can easily enter Mekelle and we can enter within three weeks,” he said.

The TPLF, Ethiopia’s ruling political party for nearly three decades, has been at loggerheads with the central government since early November. It did very well weeks ago last week.

The rapid turnaround of the war in almost eight months has left people struggling to understand what is happening in the six-million-square-foot region where communications have declined sharply.

There will be no talks with Ethiopia until connections, routes and other operations that were cut off or damaged as a result of the many wars will be restored, Getachew told the Associated Press Wednesday.

“We need to make sure that every part of our territory is returned to us, the owners,” Getachew said, adding that Ethiopian troops were still fighting for a share and Eritrean troops were still in control of “a large area” in the region.

A Tigray spokesman also issued a warning to former Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki, who had been an enemy of Tigray leaders and sent troops to Tigray to help Ethiopian troops.

Witnesses have denounced Eritrean military forces as brutal during the war. “We will do everything possible to ensure that Isaias is no longer a threat,” Getachew said.

Eritrean officials, whose human rights organizations are known to be among the most reprehensible countries in the world, have not responded to their call.