The northern Ethiopian region of Tigray confirmed that more than 50,000 of its fighters have been demobilized under a peace deal it signed with the federal government that ended a bloody two-year war.

Media close to both sides had announced on May 26 that demobilization had begun among rebel forces. The number of Tigrayan combatants is not fully known.

"Over 50,000 former fighters (have been) demobilized as part of the peace agreement," the region's official television station, Tigray TV, said late Wednesday.

On July 19, the official Ethiopian news agency ENA reported that around 50,000 former Tigrayan rebel fighters would be incorporated into the regular army this year.

The war in Africa's second most populous country killed untold numbers of civilians and forced about two million from their homes before it ended with a truce in November last year.

Fighting has ceased and forces from Eritrea, which entered Tigray in support of the federal government, have largely quit the region.

The Tigrayan forces began to surrender their heavy weapons in January, and their disarmament is continuing, even though forces from the neighboring region of Amhara, which also backed the federal army, still control western parts of Tigray.

Under the peace agreement, there would be a parallel withdrawal of Eritrean and Amhara forces from Tigray. 

On July 4, the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA said an estimated 8.8 million people were in need of food assistance, in addition to millions of others in Ethiopia's drought-hit south and southeastern regions.

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