The African Union (AU) has affirmed that the cessation of hostilities agreed between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is «an important step» and stressed that it «represents a solid pillar» for «preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity» of the country.
The AU stressed in a statement published on its website that the agreement, reached after mediation by the bloc, is also a step towards «an immediate cessation of hostilities» and «the resumption of unrestricted humanitarian access», as well as for «the restoration of services» and «healing and reconciliation».
As such, members of the high-level team for the peace talks in South Africa – comprising former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Vice President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka – have congratulated the parties for their «commitment» and «stellar leadership» during the contacts.
They said that both the Ethiopian government and the TPLF «have prioritized the Ethiopian people and the supreme interests of the Ethiopian nation», while showing their «commitment and readiness to continue to accompany the process towards a more democratic, just and inclusive Ethiopia».
For his part, the current president of the AU, the Senegalese Macky Sall, praised the agreement as «excellent news». «I congratulate the parties and strongly encourage them to persevere on the path to a definitive peace,» he said through his account on the social network Twitter.
The Ethiopian government and the TPLF issued a communiqué on Wednesday in which they pledged to implement «transitional measures» for the restoration of constitutional order in the Tigray region (north), as well as to develop a framework for resolving political differences and another to ensure accountability.
The TPLF agreed to sit in dialogue with the Ethiopian government in early October, an initiative put forward by the AU to reach a «peaceful resolution of the current conflict». One of the TPLF’s conditions was that during the negotiations there should be «additional actors» as observers or guarantors.
The conflict in Tigray erupted in November 2020 following a TPLF attack on the main army base in Mekelle, after which the government of Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive against the group following months of political and administrative tensions. A «humanitarian truce» is currently in force, although both sides have accused each other of impeding the delivery of aid.
The TPLF accuses Abiy of whipping up tensions since coming to power in April 2018, when he became the first Oromo to take 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.
