Ethiopia Starts Redeploying Troops at Southern Boundary of TSZEthiopia has moved out 600 troops from the Eritrean town of Senafe and redeployed them along the southern boundary of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), the Ethiopian Herald reported Tuesday.Ethiopia relocated its troops to Zalambesa, the Southwest of the TSZ and has started to redeploy some logistic and unnecessary materials which is the first step to redeploy the remaining forces from the area, the newspaper quoted Tom Van Ede, a Commanding Officer of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea as saying. The redeployment of Ethiopian forces was initially scheduled to start on February 12 as recently agreed at the 3rd Military Coordination Commission meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. Ede said that Ethiopia is expected to complete the redeployment of the remaining forces from the area by February 26, noting Ethiopia has started withdrawing its troops on February 12 from Senafe and prepared all the facilities to receive its troops. Eritrea, following the redeployment of Ethiopian troops, would begin to rearrange its forces to the Northern boundary of the TSZ on February 17, and the Ethiopian government would organize foreign journalists based in Addis Ababa to the front next Tuesday to witness the redeployment of Eritrean troops. Ethiopia and Eritrea are expected to complete the deployment of their forces between February 26 and March 3. Meanwhile, Roger Barret, a UN official who is charged of monitoring the troops withdrawal, said, "we will accomplish our tasks by maintaining frequent patrols and using strictly checkpoints and observation ports." Once the TSZ is firmly established, there will be a major influx of those displaced by the war who will return to their homes, according to Barret. |
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