“We stand ready to adhere to an immediate and amicable cessation of hostilities,” the armed forces, led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said on Sunday. They would accept an African Union (AU)-led peace process.
The Ethiopian government had previously said it was ready for talks without any preconditions.
In the past, the parties to the conflict had not been able to agree on a mediator for any peace negotiations: the Ethiopian central government had insisted on the AU, but the TPLF had backed the outgoing Kenyan head of state, Uhuru Kenyatta.
Positive reactions to announcement
The head of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, hailed the development as “a unique opportunity to restore peace” and called on “both parties to urgently work towards an immediate ceasefire and hold direct talks”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on the parties to the conflict to “seize this opportunity for peace” and “finally end the violence”. Guterres indicated that the UN is ready to support the AU-led peace talks.
Taye Dendea, Ethiopia’s Minister of State for Peace, described the announcement as a “nice development”. However, he demanded that the Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) be disarmed before peace talks.
Almost two years of violence
In November 2020, a war broke out in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, which also spread to neighboring regions. A ceasefire was agreed in March, fueling hopes for peace talks. After five months of relative calm, fighting between government forces and rebels in northern Ethiopia flared up again in August.
Airstrike on the capital of the Tigray region, Mekelle, in October 2021
The armed conflict in Ethiopia began in November 2020 with an offensive by the Ethiopian armed forces after the TPLF, which governs Tigray, repeatedly questioned the authority of the central government.
According to the United Nations, the fighting in Africa’s second most populous country has displaced more than two million people and killed thousands of civilians. Parts of Tigray have fallen into famine. The UN accuses all parties to the conflict of serious human rights violations.
ust/as (afp, rtr)
