No full peace until Eritrea withdraws - Tigray leader

Full peace will not return to Ethiopia's war-hit Tigray region until Eritrean troops and ethnic Amhara militias leave, Tigrayan leader Debretsion Gebremichael has said.

It was unacceptable for half of Tigray to be peaceful while the other half was "invaded", and people were being "killed, massacred", he added.

Mr Debretsion was speaking during the first visit to the region by a high-level government delegation since a peace deal was signed last month.

The presence of Eritrean soldiers and Amhara forces was not mentioned in the accord negotiated by the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), led by Mr Debretsion.

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airlines says it will resume flights to Tigray on Wednesday, the latest sign that normal services are beginning to open up.

There will be one flight a day to the regional capital Mekelle with services to other parts of Tigray starting later. Banking and telecommunications services have already resumed in some areas.

Tigray was largely cut off from the rest of the world during the conflict.

A Belgian-led academic team says that famine, a lack of health care and fighting is estimated to have caused the deaths of between 385,000 and 600,000 civilians since the war started in November 2020.

This article originally appeared in BBC News

Photo: AC