Addis Abeba, Apr 17/2021 -In a letter sent to Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, the current President of the U.N. Security Council, Eritrea’s Ambassador to the U.N. Sophia Tesfamariam aforementioned “Eritrea and Ethiopia have agreed at the highest levels to lead off the withdrawal of Eritrean forces and therefore the synchronic deployment of Ethiopian contingents on the international boundary”.
This is the primary official admission by Eritrea of the presence and involvement of its forces within the war in Tigray region, wherever wide verified reports of war crimes together with, sexual slavery, illegal killings, deliberate starvation of civilians pillaging as aggression and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructure are returning in since the war began in november last year.
The Ambassador’s letter says the withdrawal follows “as the looming grave threat has been mostly discomfited,” another admission that Eritrea’s troops are in Tigray to fight alongside the Ethiopian federal defense forces.
However, it’s not clear that “highest levels” agreement the Ambassador’s letter was pertaining to. The statement released by Eritrea’s Ministry of information on March 26, a similar day that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed claimed Eritrea has agreed to withdraw its forces, failed to mention regard to any agreement of the withdrawal of its forces.
Ambassador Sophia’s letter denies such reports.”The allegations of rape and different crimes lodged against Eritrean troopers is not simply outrageous, but conjointly a vicious attack on the culture and history of our people”.
Eritrea’s admission followed the latest meeting at the UNSC on Tigray during which Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief coordinator, delivered a remark.
Mr Lowcock said despite guarantees by PM Abiy, “neither the U.N. nor any of the humanitarian agencies we have a tendency to work with have seen proof of Eritrean withdrawal,” He also said that the UN agencies have “heard some reports of Eritrean soldiers currently carrying Ethiopian armed forces uniforms.”
Similarly, an announcement delivered by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., cites “credible reports that Eritrean forces are re-uniforming as Ethiopian military so as to stay in Tigray indefinitely”.
