Ethiopian government soldiers on a road near Agula, north of Mekele, in the Tigray region, Ethiopia, May 8, 2021 BEN CURTIS/AP
After two years of armed conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia, there is a glimmer of hope. “The Tigray government stands ready to engage in a robust peace process under the auspices of the African Union,” Ethiopian rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) said in a statement on Sunday (September 11). “Moreover, we are ready to respect an immediate and mutually accepted cessation of hostilities in order to create a favorable atmosphere,” added the rebels in this northern region of the country.
The announcement comes as diplomatic efforts intensify to find a peaceful solution to the conflict after renewed fighting last month shattered a ceasefire agreed in March.
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The Ethiopian government has long insisted that any peace process must be negotiated under the aegis of the African Union (AU), based in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. But the TPLF had until then always rejected the mediation of the AU’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and denounced his “closeness” to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
“Unique Opportunity”
Hailing a “unique opportunity” to end nearly two years of war, African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat called on “both parties to work urgently towards the establishment of a ceasefire and to engage in direct negotiations within the framework of a process under the Aegis of the AU, including consensual international partners”.
Ethiopia’s Peace Minister Taye Dendea tweeted that the TPLF announcement was a “positive development” but stressed that “the so-called TDF [Forces de défense du Tigré] must be disarmed before peace talks begin. Clear position! “.
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The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UNO), Antonio Guterres, in a press release “called on the parties to seize this opportunity for peace and to take action to put a definitive end to violence and to choose dialogue”. He assured that the UN is ready to support the AU-led peace process.
The TPLF announcement, which coincides with the Ethiopian New Year, does not mention any preconditions, but the Tigrayan rebels say they want a “credible” peace process with mutually “acceptable” mediators and international observers.
Earlier this month, TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael offered a conditional ceasefire that included “unrestricted humanitarian access” and the restoration of basic services in Tigray, which is suffering from food shortages and a lack of electricity, communications and banking services. In a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, he also called for the withdrawal of Eritrean forces from all over Ethiopia and Tigray.
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confidential meetings
Sunday’s statement said a negotiating team including Getachew Reda, the TPLF spokesman, and General Tsadkan Gebretensae, former Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Army, now with the Tigray Central Military Command, was “ready to be deployed immediately”.
Last month, Mr Debretsion announced that two rounds of confidential face-to-face meetings between senior civilian and military officials had taken place, the first confirmation of direct contact by either warring side.
Since hostilities resumed on August 24, fighting has raged on multiple fronts in northern Ethiopia, with both sides accusing each other of breaking a ceasefire agreed in March.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Abiy Ahmed deployed troops to Tigray in November 2020 to overthrow the TPLF after attacking federal army camps. But the rebels had managed to retake most of Tigray in June 2021 before fighting turned into a stalemate.
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