The meeting between senior officials of the Ethiopian Army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) started on Monday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to discuss the implementation of the recently agreed cessation of hostilities between the parties, including the disarmament of the group, after nearly two years of conflict in the Tigray region (north).
The African Union (AU) said 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 the signing of the agreement to discuss detailed work on implementation modalities, including disarmament issues, taking into account the security situation on the ground.»
«The meeting should also result in a ‘roadmap’ for immediate humanitarian access and restoration of services in the Tigray region,» he said, before stressing that «this entails making progress on the establishment of a hotline between the parties within 24 hours of signing the agreement to facilitate communications between senior commanders on both sides.»
Thus, the bloc has congratulated the parties for these «confidence-building» measures and «their continued commitment to the implementation of the cessation of hostilities agreement, as part of the overall efforts to end the conflict and give peace a chance.» «The expected results include modalities for silencing weapons, humanitarian access and restoration of services in the Tigray region,» he has 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 AU High Panel for Ethiopia, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Vice President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Redwan Hussein, National Security Advisor to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, on Saturday applauded the AU’s role in the talks that led to the cessation of hostilities agreement and stressed that the work should lead to a permanent ceasefire, a disarmament of the TPLF and the creation of a transitional administration in Tigray to enable the restoration of basic services, according to Ethiopian television channel Fana.
The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 following a TPLF attack on the army’s main base in Mekelle, after which the Abiy government ordered an offensive against the group following months of political and administrative tensions, including the TPLF’s refusal to recognize an election postponement and its decision to hold regional elections outside Addis Ababa.
The TPLF accuses Abiy of whipping up tensions since coming to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to accede to office. Until then, the TPLF had been the dominant force within Ethiopia’s ruling coalition since 1991, the ethnically-supported Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The group opposed Abiy’s reforms, which it saw as an attempt to undermine its influence.
