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Toronto – Tadesse Worde ,deputy president of Tigray region interim administration, says an agreement has been reached with the Federal government to remove provisional administrations that “Amhara militia” formed in some areas of “South Tigray” and “Tselemt” district. He said so during a press conference he had, on Tuesday, in Mekelle.
However, he has made it clear that the region’s interim gov’t does not have a stand for a referendum to be organized in those areas which the Federal government has been framing as “contested areas.”
He also accused that armed forces disrupted the process when they came into conflict with government forces, according to a report by Wazema Radio.
He also talked about disarming armed groups operating in the above mentioned areas.
Administrations in those areas have been expressing a sense of betrayal on the part of the Federal government. But the Federal government has not responded to it.
The areas that are now described as “contested areas” were parts of Gondar (in the case of what the U.S. government has been describing as “Western Tigray”) and Wollo (areas that are now “South Tigray”). These are areas that TPLF included as part of Tigray after it toppled Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam’s government in 1991 and legalized it with adoption of a new constitution.
There had been identity questions in those areas since 1991 but the TPLF dealt with them ruthlessly.
This week, TPLF forces made a military encroachment in the Raya Alamata area – a development that triggered a military response from local militia. However, local reports indicate that the local militia was not a good match as TPLF forces were heavily armed including with heavy weaponry. The development displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Amhara from the Alamata area.