Monday September 12, 2022
Both sides have accused each other of violating the truce that had been in place since late March Yasuyoshi Chiba AFP/File
Ethiopia's Tigray rebels said Sunday they were ready for a
ceasefire and would accept a peace process led by the African Union, removing
an obstacle to negotiations with the government to end almost two years of
brutal warfare.
The announcement was made amid a flurry of international
diplomacy after fighting flared last month for the first time in several months
in northern Ethiopia, torpedoing a humanitarian truce.
"The government of Tigray is prepared to participate in
a robust peace process under the auspices of the African Union," said a
statement by the Tigrayan authorities.
"Furthermore, we are ready to abide by an immediate and
mutually agreed cessation of hostilities in order to create a conducive
atmosphere."
The Ethiopian government has previously said it was ready
for unconditional talks "anytime, anywhere," brokered by the Addis
Ababa-headquartered AU.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) had until now
vehemently opposed the role of the AU's Horn of Africa envoy Olusegun Obasanjo,
protesting his "proximity" to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat issued a statement
welcoming the development as a "unique opportunity towards the restoration
of peace" and urged "both parties to urgently work towards an
immediate ceasefire, engage in direct talks".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called in a statement
for "the parties to seize this opportunity for peace and to take steps to
end the violence definitively and opt for dialogue."
He said the United Nations is ready to support the AU-led
peace process.
Taye Dendea, Ethiopia's state minister for peace, described
the TPLF announcement as a "nice development" on Twitter but insisted
the "so-called TDF (Tigray Defence Forces) must be disarmed before peace
talks start. Clear stand!"
Seeking 'credible'
peace process
The TPLF statement, which coincided with Ethiopia's new
year, made no mention of preconditions, although it said the Tigrayans expected
a "credible" peace process with "mutually acceptable"
mediators as well as international observers.
TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael earlier this month
proposed a conditional truce calling for "unfettered humanitarian
access" and the restoration of essential services in Tigray, which is
suffering food shortages and a lack of electricity, communications and banking.
In a letter to Guterres, he also called for the withdrawal
of Eritrean forces from across Ethiopia, and for troops to pull out of western
Tigray, a disputed region claimed by both Tigrayans and Amharas, the country's
second-largest ethnic group.
Sunday's statement said a negotiating team including TPLF
spokesman Getachew Reda and General Tsadkan Gebretensae, a former Ethiopian
army chief now in Tigray's central military command, was "ready to be
deployed without delay".
Debretsion had disclosed last month that two rounds of
confidential face-to-face meetings had taken place between top civilian and
military officials, the first acknowledgement by either warring side of direct
contacts.
'Choose talks over
fighting'
The AU's Faki had held talks Saturday with both Obasanjo,
the former Nigerian president, and visiting US envoy for the Horn of Africa,
Mike Hammer.
"May the parties in the conflict have the courage to
choose talks over fighting, and participate in an African Union-led process
that produces a lasting peace," Hammer said in a new year's message for
Ethiopians on Sunday.
Fighting has raged on several fronts in northern Ethiopia
since hostilities resumed on August 24, with both sides accusing the other of
firing first and breaking a March truce.
The latest combat first broke out around Tigray's
southeastern border but has since spread to areas west and north of the initial
clashes, the TPLF accusing Ethiopian and Eritrean forces of having launched a
massive joint offensive on Tigray on September 1.
The United Nations said on Thursday that the renewed
fighting had forced a halt to desperately needed aid deliveries to Tigray, both
by road and air.
The March truce had allowed aid convoys to travel to
Tigray's capital Mekele for the first time since mid-December.
Untold numbers of civilians have been killed since the war
erupted in Africa's second most populous country, and millions of people across
northern Ethiopia are in need of emergency aid.
Abiy, a Nobel Peace laureate, sent troops into Tigray in
November 2020 to topple the TPLF in response to what he said were attacks by
the group on federal army camps.
The TPLF recaptured most of Tigray in a surprise comeback in
June 2021 and expanded into Afar and Amhara, before the fighting reached a
stalemate.