Mohammed Yusuf
Friday December 23, 2022
FILE - Head of the Tigray Forces Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede, left, and Chief of Staff of Ethiopian Armed Forces Field Marshall Birhanu Jula read a copy of an agreement at Ethiopian peace talks in Nairobi, Nov. 12, 2022.
NAIROBI — Officials from Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray region are meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, to discuss the next steps for a peace deal to end two years of war.
Senior Ethiopian government officials and Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) representatives are meeting in Kenya to discuss implementation of the November peace agreement signed in South Africa.
The Wednesday meeting comes as the rebel TPLF said some parts of the Tigray region are finding it difficult to access much-needed humanitarian assistance. The rebels blame the problems on the presence of Eritrean troops, who entered Tigray during the war, to support the Ethiopian government.
Pro-Tigray media reports say a regional official, Atinkut Mezgebo, called on the Ethiopian government to address what he called Eritrean forces' attacks on civilians and the looting of the aid intended for the suffering masses.
Experts warn the alleged continued clashes and blockage of humanitarian supplies could complicate the peace agreement.
Early this month, Tigray rebel group commander Tadesse Warede said two-thirds of his fighters have left the battlefield as part of the agreement.
The peace deal has allowed the passage of humanitarian aid to Tigray and the restoration of telecommunication and banking systems after more than a year-and-a-half.
The Ethiopian government says more than eight million people in the Afar, Amhara and Tigray regions have received humanitarian supplies since the signing of the peace deal.
The war in Tigray broke out between Ethiopian government forces and the rebel group in November 2020, displacing millions and killing hundreds of thousands of people.
Leaders of the warring factions have been meeting on a regular basis to push for the implementation of the peace agreement signed last month.
The Nairobi meeting is expected to end later this week.