The Ethiopian government on Thursday rejected claims of the statement of the withdrawal of the Tigrayan forces.
Government representative Legesse Tulu told state media that the news that Tigrayan forces had actually left Afar were "huge lies.".
The government asserted that the defiant forces were still present in the nearby region of Afar.
Talking to Reuters on Thursday, Afar Police Commissioner Ahmed Harif said that Tigrayan forces were still in four districts bordering Tigray - Koneba, Abala, Berhale, as well as Magale - and had not moved since Monday.
Getachew Reda, the spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that manages Tigray, did not react to ask for remark. On Monday, he told Reuters Tigrayan forces were leaving Afar.
The Tigrayan forces said they were withdrawing so that humanitarian convoys could get in. Only a trickle of aid has made it into famine-hit Tigray, where more than 90% of the population needs food aid since the Ethiopian military withdrew at the end of June.
The United Nations has actually blamed government administration and fighting for obstructing convoys.
On March 25 the federal government announced a unilateral ceasefire, stating it would allow humanitarian aid to get in.
Tigrayan forces consented to appreciate the ceasefire on the condition that adequate aid was delivered to their region "within a reasonable time.".
Since the ceasefire was stated, 145 trucks have made it into Tigray, according to the U.N. World Food Programme but a minimum of 100 each day are needed, the United Nations states.
Tigrayan forces have actually been combating the central government since November 2020, accusing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of wanting to centralize power at the expense of the regions in an effort to restore national power, which he lost when he was designated in 2018.
