The Ethiopian government announced the surrender of a large number of "Tigray Front" forces, in response to the deadline that ends this evening.
While international efforts to resolve the conflict continue, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called on the international community to refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of his country.
A statement issued by the government's Emergency Committee said that a large number of what it called "Tigrayan militia" and the special forces surrendered before the 72-hour deadline set by the government.
The statement added that the "militias" have surrendered in the Afar region, and "the remaining forces will surrender peacefully."
The government thanked the forces of the Tigray Front and the "militias" that responded to the deadline.
The government called on the "militias" that are still under the control of the front and who are unable to surrender, "to disarm them wherever they are and to refrain from exploiting them by the front until they are rescued by the National Defense Forces."
On the ground, the battlefront around the city of Maqli, the provincial capital, is witnessing a cautious calm, while the battles continue on other fronts, where the Ethiopian army says it is making progress, which the Tigray Front denies.
Abi Ahmed warns
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that the international community should refrain from interfering in Ethiopia's internal affairs until the Ethiopian authorities request assistance in the law enforcement process taking place in Tigray.
In a statement on his Twitter page, Abiy Ahmed said that for nearly three years now, "the Tigray Front has organized a series of violent attacks against ethnic and religious minorities in different parts of the country."
The statement affirmed the rejection of any interference in the internal affairs of Ethiopia and respect for the basic principles of non-interference under international law.
International meeting
The UN Security Council held its first meeting yesterday on the situation in Tigray without being able to agree on a statement on the conflict.
The spokesman for the United Nations, Stephane Dujarric, confirmed that the African Union is at the forefront of international efforts to resolve this crisis, and that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, supports this approach.
The Security Council also decided to keep this meeting after its European members insisted on holding it, despite the African countries ’request to cancel the session to give the African mediation more time.
And South Africa, Niger, Tunisia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which had requested the holding of this closed meeting, "withdrew their request because the (African) delegates who had been chosen had not yet gone to Ethiopia."
The African Union announced that three former heads of special envoys to Ethiopia had been chosen in an attempt to mediate between the two parties to the conflict.