Nov. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The meeting between senior officials of the Ethiopian Army and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF) started this Monday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to address the application of the cessation of hostilities recently agreed between the parties, including disarmament of the group, after nearly two years of conflict in the Tigray region (north).
The African Union (AU) has indicated in a statement that the meeting “is consistent with article 6d of the recently signed cessation of hostilities agreement between the Government of Ethiopia and the TPLF, in which the parties agreed to organize a meeting between senior commanders within five days of signing the agreement to discuss detailed work on implementation modalities, including disarmament issues, taking into account the security situation on the ground”.
“The meeting must also lead to a ‘road map’ for immediate humanitarian access and the restoration of services in the Tigray region,” he said, before emphasizing that “this means moving forward on the establishment of a direct line between the parties within 24 hours from the signing of the agreement to facilitate communications between senior commanders of both parties”.
Thus, the block has congratulated the parties for these “confidence-building” measures and “their continued commitment to the application of the cessation of hostilities agreement, as part of the general efforts to end the conflict and give an opportunity to the peace”. “The expected results include modalities to silence the weapons, humanitarian access and restoration of services in the Tigray region,” he reiterated.
The meeting is being facilitated by the AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as members of the African Union High Panel for Ethiopia, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Vice President Phumzile. Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Redwan Hussein, national security adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, applauded on Saturday the role of the AU in the talks that led to the agreement for the cessation of hostilities and stressed that the work must lead to a permanent ceasefire, a disarming of the TPLF and the creation of a transitional administration in Tigray that allows the restoration of basic services, according to the Ethiopian television network Fana.
The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 after an attack by the TPLF against the Army’s main base, located in Mekelle, after which the Abiy government ordered an offensive against the group after months of political and administrative tensions, including the TPLF’s refusal to recognize an electoral postponement and its decision to hold regional elections outside of Addis Ababa.
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.
