Non-Ethiopian forces which have been involving in the fighting under the command of the federal army in northern Ethiopia have withdrew from Shire Indaselassie and surrounding districts of Tigray region.A farewell ceremony was held on Friday at Shire town in the presence of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) General Abebaw Tadesse as the Amhara forces quit the area.

The pull-out was based on the terms of a peace deal reached in Pretoria between Addis Ababa and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) last November.

TPLF has put the withdrawal of the Eritrean and non ENDF forces from the territories of Tigray as precondition before it started handing over heavy weapons to the national army.

Shire Indaselassie is part of what is called ‘Proper Tigray’.

TPLF were demanding the withdrawal of Eritrean and non ENDF forces from Wolkait, Setit Humera, Telemet, Wag Emra, Alamata areas which it annexed from the Amhara people right after it came to power in 1991.

The Amhara forces regained those lands after the conflict broke out between TPLF and federal government in November 2020. 

There is potential fear that a conflict will erupt if any force attempts to take these lands away from the Amhara people.

The Eritrean forces have partly withdrawn from some parts of Axum, Adwa, Shire areas of the Tigray region.

Meanwhile, TPLF has been accused of offering military training to Agew Shengo a rebel group in the Wag Emera zone of neighbouring Amhara region.