Lenin Ndebele
Ethiopia PM says committee looking into possibility of peace talks with Tigray rebels
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Tuesday spoke for the first time publicly about the possibility of peace negotiations with Tigrayan rebels, who have been locked in a 19-month war with federal forces. Dispelling speculation that secret talks were already under way with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Abiy said his government had instituted a committee to examine…
- Tigray has expressed confidence in Kenya as the chosen host of peace talks with Ethiopia.
- But it has reservations over the alleged closeness between the AU’s Special Envoy Olusegun Obasanjo and Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed.
- Ethiopia’s committee will table a report for peace talks to the president in two weeks.
One of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s last international engagements before he steps down from power could be helping mediate an end to the war in Ethiopia.
Kenya goes to the polls on 9 August to elect a new president after Kenyatta completes his second and final term as per the constitution.
The war in Ethiopia between the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopian government forces fighting alongside Eritrean forces has resulted in 90% of the estimated population of seven million in Tigray needing humanitarian aid.
In April, a mini-truce was put in place and it’s still exists to allow food aid into Tigray. However, due to logistical challenges and mistrust between the warring factions, inadequate relief aid has reached the area.
The mini-truce set in motion the possibility of peace talks. On Tuesday, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced in a televised address that a committee had been set up to study pre-conditions and how the negotiations with Tigray should go ahead.
In light of that, Tigray’s transitional government has since insisted that any talks that with Ethiopia must not be done in secrecy, and that the African Union and United Nations should play a central role.
In a letter addressed to the AU chairperson, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Kenyatta, Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, Tigray’s Debretsion Gebremichael said: “Since the outbreak of war in Ethiopia in November 2020, we have been open to good-faith peace negotiations convened by an impartial third party, consistent with the norms and principles of the African Union and the United Nations.”
Tigray is happy that Ethiopia’s southern neighbour, Kenya should take charge of any peace talks.
“We express our confidence in the government of Kenya and our appreciation to President Uhuru Kenyatta for his sustained, principled, impartial, inclusive, and discreet efforts to broker peace and negotiations with a view of a comprehensive resolution to the crisis.
“On this basis, we hold firm to the existing agreement among the parties to meet in Nairobi for negotiations hosted and facilitated by the president of Kenya,” Gebremichael said.
Ahmed gave his committee two weeks to come up with a report for the peace talks, and then Tigray’s transitional authority will come up with theirs. Thereafter, an announcement on the dates for talks will be made.https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.519.0_en.html#goog_804541163Play VideoHuman rights groups accuse Ethiopian military of war crimes in TigrayAmnesty International and Human Rights Watch are accusing the Ethiopian military and regional armed forces of war crimes in the Tigray region, based on interviews with 400 refugees in Sudan.
Tigray’s transitional government said it was open to talks, but “we are not prepared to make secret deals or to bargain away our principles for material inducements”.
While welcoming the possibility of talks, Tigray felt the AU should have done better to avert the crisis.
“The silence of the AU over the war and atrocities perpetrated by the forces ranged against us was a betrayal,” said Gebremichael.
Last month, former Nigeran president Olusegun Obasanjo, and now AU Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, secured the release of about 4 000 Ethiopian prisoners of war from Tigray.
But Tigray says Obasanjo’s alleged close ties with Ahmed do not sit well.
“The proximity of the high representative to the prime minister of Ethiopia has not gone unnoticed by our people,” he added.
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