conflicts
Ethiopia: Armistice with Tigray rebels
Ethiopian government soldiers drive in the Tigray region. photo
© Ben Curtis/AP/dpa/Archive
War has been raging in Ethiopia for almost exactly two years. More than half a million people are said to have died. Now there is hope for peace.
After nearly two years of war, the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have agreed on an immediate ceasefire. The African Union mediator, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, said Wednesday after talks in South Africa.
“Both parties have formally agreed to cease hostilities and (…) to disarm,” Obasanjo said. As part of the agreement, the parties to the conflict have agreed to restore law, order and public services, as well as to provide access to relief supplies, Obasanjo said.
Agreement after about a week of negotiations
The parties to the conflict signed the agreement in front of live cameras in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria. They had previously negotiated behind closed doors for more than a week. The rapid implementation of the agreement with all its aspects is now “of crucial importance,” said Obasanjo. “This moment is not the end of the process, but the beginning of it.”
The conflict between the Addis Ababa government and the TPLF began in November 2020 after the TPLF held regional elections in the northern Tigray region despite a ban from Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called a humanitarian ceasefire in spring 2022, which the TPLF joined. However, this was broken at the end of August. Observers are now assuming that more than half a million have died since the beginning of the war.