Ethiopia A government delegation on its way to the rebel

Ethiopia: A government delegation on its way to the rebel region of Tigray

An Ethiopian government delegation was en route to the capital, Tigray, on Monday morning for the first official visit by senior federal officials more than two years after conflict erupted in the rebel region, the government said.

This group of officials, led by House Speaker Tagesse Chafo, must “oversee the application of key points of the peace deal,” which a statement posted on Facebook on April 2.

“This gesture is proof that the peace agreement is on the right track and making progress,” he added, accompanying the text with a photo of the delegation of around 20 people on an airport runway.

Notable in this photo are Prime Minister’s Advisor on National Security Redwan Hussein, Justice Ministers Gedion Timotheos, Transport and Communications Ministers Dagmawit Moges and Industry Minister Melaku Alebel, as well as CEOs of Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom, Mesfin Tassew and Frehiwot Tamiru.

The government and rebel authorities signed an agreement in Pretoria on November 2 aimed at ending a war that has devastated northern Ethiopia for two years, killing tens of thousands and plunging the region into a deep humanitarian crisis.

In particular, this agreement provides for the disarmament of rebel forces, the restoration of federal authority in Tigray and the reopening of access to the region.

Since then, fighting has stopped, food and medical aid are gradually arriving, the rebels have announced that they have “withdrawn” 65% of their fighters from the front lines, the city of Mekele has been connected to the national electricity grid and the main bank announced the resumption of their financial operations in some cities.

But rebel authorities, as well as residents and aid workers who testified to AFP, accuse the army of Eritrea, a country bordering Tigray’s northern border, and security forces and militias of Ethiopia’s Amhara region, bordering its southern border, of numerous abuses civilians (looting, raping, kidnapping, executing, etc.).

These two forces supported the Ethiopian army during the conflict but were absent from the Pretoria talks.

Since the deal was signed, rebel authorities and government officials have met several times, including twice in the capital, Nairobi.

At the end of their last meeting on Thursday, they agreed on a ceasefire monitoring mechanism that would also collect complaints about violations against civilians.

The fighting began in November 2020 when Abiy Ahmed dispatched the federal army to arrest leaders in the region who had questioned his authority for months and whom he accused of attacking federal military bases.