Parties in Ethiopia agree on humanitarian access for “all those in need”

First modification: 11/12/2022 – 20:29

The rebels and the Ethiopian federal authorities agreed this Saturday, November 12, on “humanitarian access to all those in need” in the Tigray region, ravaged by two years of war, as announced at a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

The announcement follows discussions in the Kenyan capital on the implementation of the peace agreement signed on November 2 in Pretoria, including the disarmament of rebel forces, the restoration of federal authority in Tigray and the delivery of aid.

“Silence the Guns”

The agreement signed on Saturday by Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces (ENDF), and General Tadesse Worede, Commander-in-Chief of the Tigray rebel forces, provides “humanitarian access to all those who need it in Tigray and neighboring regions”. The signed document also provides “security guarantees for humanitarian workers.” This will be “with immediate effect,” said former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the African Union (AU) special envoy to the Horn of Africa.

“We have struggled for the past two years to defend our interests…we have suffered untold misery,” Tadesse Worede said. “And we still suffer,” he continued. “Our commitment is to bring stability and peace,” said Marshal Berhanu Jula.

This agreement is a way of “silencing the guns”, according to former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, an AU special envoy.

On Thursday, the Addis Ababa government said aid was “flowing like never before” to Tigray. The authorities also said they control about 70% of the Tigray region. These statements “are not based on any reality,” Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray rebel authorities, had responded to AFP at the time.

A Tigray-based humanitarian worker had also denied to AFP any arrival of aid to this region of six million inhabitants, almost isolated from the world and plunged into a very serious humanitarian crisis.

On Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom, himself a Tigrayan and a former senior official of the party from which the rebel authorities came, had already denounced the absence of aid arrivals in Tigray since the signing of the peace agreement in Pretoria.

Despite the peace agreement, access to parts of northern Ethiopia, including Tigray, remains prohibited for journalists. Therefore, it is impossible to verify these claims and know the precise positions of the belligerents before or after the peace agreement.

One of the world’s deadliest conflicts

Fighting in Tigray resumed on August 24 after a five-month truce. The region has been isolated from the rest of the country and deprived of electricity, telecommunication networks, banking services and fuel. Road and air transport of humanitarian aid has also been completely halted since fighting resumed.

The conflict in Tigray began in November 2020 when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abyi Ahmed sent the federal army there to arrest leaders in the region who had challenged his authority for months and whom he accused of attacking federal military bases there.

Initially defeated, Tigray rebel forces regained control of most of the region during 2021, in a counteroffensive that spread into neighboring Amhara and Afar provinces, and saw them approach Addis Ababa. The rebels then withdrew towards Tigray.

The outcome of this conflict marked by countless abuses, which occurred largely behind closed doors, is unknown. But the International Crisis Group (ICG) and Amnesty International (AI) describe it as “one of the deadliest in the world”.

Crimes against humanity have been committed “by all parties” with total “impunity” in Tigray, Amnesty International charged on October 26, while not ruling out “genocide.” The war has also displaced more than 2 million Ethiopians and plunged hundreds of thousands into near-famine conditions, according to the UN.

with AFP