Blinken urges Eritrea pullout a year after Tigray peace deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks to reporters prior to boarding his aircraft at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on his way to the Middle East and Asia on Nov. 2, 2023. AFP PHOTOWashington, United States: A year after a peace deal halted the bloody Tigray war, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Thursday (Friday in Manila) for Eritrean troops to pull out and for diplomacy to resolve conflicts elsewhere in Ethiopia.Blinken praised the "significant progress" since the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) reached the deal on November 2, 2022 in Pretoria but acknowledged "challenges that remain."