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| Ethiopian army |
ADDIS ABABA, May 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A new twist in the Tigray conflict has emerged after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it was releasing soldiers it has detained but the Ethiopian government said most of those released were civilians and not soldiers.
The Tigray forces who are fighting Ethiopia’s federal army on Saturday released 4,208 prisoners, including 401 women in an amnesty grant, claiming they were prisoners of war (POWs) soldiers captured during the war.
The move came amid an escalating war of words between Tigray and the Federal Government, raising fears of renewed hostilities in the country’s north.
Birhane Kebede, the coordinator of the prisoners’ center in the Tigray region, said most of the POWs were captured during fighting outside of the Tigray region, and others joined the fight in a “forced conscription”.
The Tigray official said those who suffered illness or serious injuries during the fighting, and women who gave birth while in detention were given priority for the release.
However, in a statement, the Ethiopian Government Communication Service said most of the released captives were not POWs but civilians who were abducted in several parts of the Amhara and Afar regions, as well as in Tigray following the army’s withdrawal from the region last June.
“TPLF is trying to divert [the] attention of the international community, claiming it released POWs,” the statement said.
“Purported release of POWs is one of the manifestations of how the TPLF is peddling false stories as a cover-up to mislead the international community.”
Shortly after the statement was released, TPLF questioned the government’s denial.
“Why is the Ethiopian Government Communication Service in Addis Ababa taking pains to deny that thousands of POWs have been released, and almost twice as many POWs are still in the hands of the Government of Tigray?” Getachew Reda, the Executive committee member of TPLF, tweeted.
This is the second time that Tigray forces have freed a large number of people.
In July 2021, Tigrayan forces paraded over 7,000 captives in the regional capital, Mekelle, claiming they were prisoners of war. They later said they released 1,000 government soldiers.
The conflict between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces has claimed the lives of thousands of people and left over five million people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. — NNN-AGENCIES
