Forces in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region have agreed on a ceasefire to accept an African Union-led peace process with the Ethiopian Government.
The Tigray forces declared this in a statement made available to reporters.
Part of the statement reads, “We are ready to abide by an immediate and mutually agreed cessation of hostilities. Tigray force has been fighting the central government for nearly two years but has set up a negotiation team that is ready to be deployed without delay”.
Recall that the Ethiopian federal government said in June that the African Union (AU) should facilitate peace talks and the government has previously said it is willing to enter talks without preconditions.
But the UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric has confirmed that the United Nations was ready to support the AU-led peace process.
Also, the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “calls on the parties to seize this opportunity for peace and to take steps to end the violence definitively and opt for dialogue”, Dujarric said.
Recall that Tigrayan forces have been at war with the Ethiopian federal government since November 2020, accusing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of centralizing power at the expense of Ethiopia’s regions, an allegation which Abiy also denied.
