Oct. 11 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of Ethiopia, Sahle-Work Zewde, has reaffirmed the Government’s willingness to reach a peace agreement with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF) to end the conflict that broke out in November 2020 in the Tigray region ( north).
The president has indicated before the Ethiopian Parliament that the Executive “is committed to a peaceful resolution” and has said that Addis Ababa has shown its willingness to negotiate “without preconditions”, although it has warned that it could adopt “corrective measures” if the TPLF does not advance in the dialogue.
Likewise, it has recognized that “the conflict and internal displacement are among the main challenges facing the country”, while at the same time it has opted for “active participation by citizens” to ensure that the national dialogue process “is fruitful”, as reported by the Ethiopian television station Fana.
The Ethiopian government and the TPLF recently accepted a proposal from the African Union (AU) to start peace talks in South Africa, following an uptick in fighting since August after the collapse of a humanitarian truce that had been in place for nearly five years. months.
The conflict in Ethiopia erupted after an attack by the TPLF against the Army’s main base, located in Mekelle, after which the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, ordered an offensive against the group after months of political and administrative tensions. A “humanitarian truce” is currently in force, although both sides have accused each other of preventing the delivery of aid.
The TPLF has accused Abiy of stirring up tensions since he came to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within the ethnically based coalition that had governed Ethiopia since 1991, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, seeing them as an attempt to undermine his influence.
