July 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Tigray (TPLF) has announced the appointment of a delegation of representatives to negotiate a peace agreement with the Government of Ethiopia.
“The Government of Tigray will choose a negotiation team with all the necessary guarantee processes regarding decision-making,” explained the TPLF’s foreign spokesman, Kindeya Gebrehiwot, in statements to the Sudanese newspaper ‘Sudan Tribune’.
The TPLF would thus respond to the Ethiopian government’s announcement of the appointment of a seven-member delegation to negotiate with the rebel group, which has already begun to function.
The government delegation is led by the Ethiopian deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Demeke Mekonnen, and would have started work last week.
The government hopes that the African Union will sponsor the peace negotiations, but has questioned the neutrality of the pan-African organization and has already requested the involvement of the Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta. Instead, the TPLF has denounced the “closeness” of the AU envoy, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, to the Ethiopian government.
These misgivings have delayed the start of the peace talks, initially scheduled for the end of June, and for the time being the specific place or the time of the start of these contacts is unknown.
The Tigray region is in practice isolated by military forces, so it is not possible to send medicines and other humanitarian aid to a population that is on the brink of famine as a result of the confrontation between the Army and the TPLF that broke out in November 2020.
Add Comment