Nov. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has acknowledged having received with satisfaction the agreement reached between the Government of Ethiopia and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF) for the cessation of hostilities.
Borrell has valued the “commitment” of both parties, as well as their “courage” in taking steps towards peace. Likewise, he has praised the work of the African Union (AU), mediator in the agreement, and South Africa, host country of the talks.
“A rapid implementation on the ground of the agreement reached today is necessary. The priority is to resume humanitarian access in all affected areas and restore basic services, in particular in Tigray,” Borrell said in a statement.
However, the highest representative of European diplomacy has encouraged the parties not to limit themselves to this agreement and has advocated for more negotiations to be carried out to achieve a permanent ceasefire and to be able to promote political talks at the highest level.
Finally, Borrell has transferred his support to the Ethiopian population at a time when the second anniversary of the start of hostilities is approaching. “It is still of the utmost importance that the victims see that justice is done with the perpetrators of these crimes,” the European representative concluded, extolling accountability as a “cornerstone” for peace and reconciliation.
The mediator of the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, announced this Wednesday that the Government of Ethiopia and the TPLF have signed an agreement for the cessation of hostilities in the framework of the conflict that has ravaged the Tigray region (north) since November 2020.
The talks were attended by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Vice President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, as well as representatives of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the United Nations and the United States.
The TPLF agreed to sit down for a dialogue with the Ethiopian government at the beginning of October, an initiative proposed by the AU to reach a “peaceful resolution of the current conflict”. One of the conditions of the TPLF was that during the negotiations there be “additional actors” as observers or guarantors.
The war has worsened in recent weeks after the outbreak of new fighting in August after five months of humanitarian truce agreed between the parties. The TPLF previously denounced a large-scale offensive by the Eritrean Army in support of Ethiopian forces.
The conflict in Tigray broke out in November 2020 after an attack by the TPLF against the main Army base, located in Mekelle, after which the Abiy Ahmed government 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.
