The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces made a surprise truce to end a two-year-old war that has already led to thousands of deaths and resulted in warnings of a famine in the region.
The African Union (AU) called the truce a new "dawn" and is an agreement between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces that would allow aid deliveries to resume. Nearly all of the people located in the northern Tigray region are in need of food assistance, said the World Health Organization (WHO).
Ethiopia, Tigray Truce
Nearly a third of the children in the region are found to be suffering from malnutrition, and despite the truce being a major breakthrough, many would receive it with some form of caution. The recent deal is not the first ceasefire in the conflict as a previous one was breached in August, only months after both sides committed to it.
However, the latest agreements have gone a step further, with Ethiopian government officials and representatives of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) signing up for a disarmament plan and restoration of crucial services, including aid supplies, as per BBC.
A joint statement that officials released said that Ethiopia has only one national defense force and noted that the TPLF made a major concession, which was to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate fighters into the federal army.
In a statement, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described the deal as "monumental" and committed to implementing it properly. Furthermore, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who mediated the deal after a week of negotiations in South Africa, called it the beginning of the peace process.
According to the Washington Post, Obasanjo noted that both sides formally agreed to the cessation of hostilities and to systematic, orderly, smooth, and coordinated disarmament, restoration of law and order, restoration of services, unhindered access to humanitarian supplies, and protection of civilians.
End of the Civil War
While the full document of the truce has yet to be released, the deal was announced on live television. The national security adviser to Ethiopia's federal government, Redwan Hussein and Getachew Reda from the TPLF praised the truce.
Redwan expressed his gratitude to the countries that had continued to support Ethiopia and criticized other nations. The European Union froze budget support to Ethiopia while the United States suspended the region's much-valued preferential trading status over human rights abuses that were committed during the war, including gang rapes and mass killings of civilians conducted by the Ethiopian military and its allies.
The official added that people from Africa remained true to their principled stance that Ethiopians must own and resolve their differences. He had hoped that others would learn such a generous and firm direction.
The war, which broke out in November 2020, was where Tigrayan soldiers seized military bases across Tigray after months of worsening relations with the new central government. The latter dominated national politics for nearly three decades until the appointment of Ahmed in 2018.
However, two important parties to the conflict were not represented in the negotiations: the government of Eritrea and representatives from Ethiopia's Amhara region, the Washington Post reported.
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