It was not immediately clear if the troops' movements out of Shire, one of Tigray's largest towns, was part of an Eritrean withdrawal from the region or merely a redeployment. Witnesses and an Ethiopian official reported last month that Eritrean soldiers were leaving Shire and two other major towns, but many ended up staying behind. A Shire resident said the Eritrean convoys were seen leaving the town from early in the morning until about 5 p.m. on Friday. All Eritrean troops in the town seemed to have left by Friday evening, he said. A second aid worker said hundreds of Eritrean vehicles had left Shire but that some soldiers remained in the town.

Source: Ethiopian News January 22, 2023 13:31 UTC