Ethiopia Withdraws Troops From Eritrean Border TownEthiopia Tuesday began withdrawing its troops from Eritrea's border town of Senafe to implement a peace agreement signed by the two neighboring countries last December.Ethiopia would pull out its troops from Senafe and Imbaysora fronts within the next two days, said Ethiopian Colonel Adefres Deneke at the central front of the battle field. Prior to its withdrawal, the Ethiopian army had cleared off the anti-personnel and anti-vehicle landmines in the Eritrean highlands, according to Yirdaw Gebrehana, another officer of Ethiopian army. Following the redeployment of Ethiopian troops, the UN peacekeeping forces will be deployed in a temporary security zone established between Ethiopia and Eritrea to monitor the implementation of the peace deal. Ethiopia and Eritrea, which had been engaged in a two-year war due to border disputes since May 1998, signed a comprehensive peace agreement on December 12, 2000 to end the conflicts under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity. US Offers Relief Food to EthiopiaThe United States has pledged more than 180,000 tons of relief grain in support of both drought-affected and war-displaced Ethiopians, the Ethiopian News Agency reported Tuesday.Of the pledged relief food, 154,160 tons of grain will be distributed among the drought-hit people through various humanitarian organizations, the news agency said. The remaining 27,200 tons of relief food will be distributed through the United Nations World Food Program, Ethiopia's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) was quoted as saying. The DPPC has appealed for 470,658 tons of relief grain to some 6.2 million drought-stricken people this year. It has also appealed for 45,734 tons of relief food to nearly 350,000 people displaced during the two-year-old border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. In response, the European Union is also expected to donate some 110,000 tons of grain to Ethiopia. |
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