Ethiopian and TPLF leaders celebrate completion of peace agreement in Addis Ababa

Ethiopian Prime Minister announces start of peace talks with Oromo Liberation Army in Tanzania

23 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Officials from the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) celebrated this Sunday in Addis Ababa the culmination of the peace agreement in Pretoria (South Africa) that ended last year one of the most violent conflicts of the recent history of the continent.

The current acting head of the Tigray region and TPLF spokesman, Getachew Reda, has arrived in the capital to “transmit a message of peace and love” to all Ethiopians and to thank the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, “for the correct implementation of the peace agreement.

The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 after a TPLF attack on the main Ethiopian Army base, located in Mekelle, after which the Prime Minister 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 fighting left between 100,000 and 600,000 dead, according to unofficial estimates by Ethiopian officials and the African Union, respectively, until the peace agreement signed in Pretoria.

“The people of Tigray are fed up with the war and no longer want to take up arms,” ​​Reda said during the ceremony, accompanied by the chairman of the African Union Commission, Musa Faki.

“I know that much remains to be done. The process of political dialogue, transitional justice, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration are activities that require collective efforts. But everything is possible as long as peace is maintained,” he said. know for his part the Chadian diplomat.

The celebrations have also been attended by a South African representation headed by Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, as well as the former presidents of Nigeria and Kenya, Olesegun Obasanjo and Uhuru Kenyatta, instrumental mediators in the peace agreement, reports the Ethiopian state broadcaster FANA .

NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE OROMO LIBERATION ARMY

The Ethiopian Prime Minister has rounded off the celebrations by announcing the start of peace negotiations with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) next Tuesday in Tanzania.

The group is a splinter group from the historic Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which fought for decades for the secession of the Oromia region.

In 2018, he announced that he was renouncing the armed struggle, accepting the amnesty offer from the prime minister, the first Oromo to hold office in the African country.