News - World: Ethiopia has announced that military troops from neighboring Eritrea have “started to evacuate” the conflict-hit Tigray region situated between the two African states.

Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry made the announcement on Saturday, one day after the Group of Seven (G7) countries called for the speedy withdrawal of the Eritrean forces fighting on the side of Ethiopian forces in a war against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in northern Ethiopia.

“As announced last week, the Eritrean troops who had crossed the border when provoked by the TPLF have now started to evacuate,” the statement said, adding that Ethiopia's military had now “taken over guarding the national border.”

Amid mounting reports of massacres and widespread sexual violence in Tigray following the government-launched November offensive, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed revealed for the first time in March that Eritrean troops had been secretly fighting alongside Ethiopian forces in the north against the TPLF forces.

Addis Ababa and Asmara long denied Eritreans were active in Tigray at all, contradicting testimony from residents, rights groups, aid workers, diplomats and even some Ethiopian civilian and military officials.

Abiy claimed that Eritrean combat troops would now leave the country and return to their homeland.

Source: Press TV