ADDIS ABABA — Talks between the
Ethiopian government and the rebel authorities in Tigray aimed at finding a peaceful
resolution to their devastating two-year conflict were continuing Monday,
sources familiar with the discussions said.
اضافة اعلان
The negotiations led by the
African Union (AU) began
last Tuesday in South Africa, the first formal dialogue to try to end a war
that has killed many thousands of people and unleashed a desperate humanitarian
crisis in northern Ethiopia.
In an interview with Chinese state media, Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed voiced hope that peace could be achieved, without making
any direct reference to the talks underway in Pretoria.
“We’re working towards peace, we are trying to
convince the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) to respect the law of the
land, to respect the constitution and to act as one state in Ethiopia,” Abiy
told the English-language CGTN news channel in an undated interview posted on
Twitter.
“Of course, if there are lots of interventions from
left and right, that is very difficult,” he said.
“Ethiopians should understand, we can solve our own
issue by ourselves. And instead of listening from afar, better to respect our
own law, better to respect our own culture, better to respect our own
(customs),” he said.
“If we could do that, peace is achievable. I hope
we’ll achieve that.”
Since the negotiations began, intense fighting has
continued unabated in Tigray, where government troops backed by the Eritrean
army and regional forces have been waging artillery bombardments and air
strikes, capturing a string of towns from the rebels.
The international community has voiced deep alarm
over the combat and the human cost it has exacted on civilians caught in the
crossfire.
Abiy said that in towns in Tigray now under the control
of
Ethiopian forces, such as Axum and neighboring Adwa, the government was
providing humanitarian aid but did not elaborate.
South Africa had initially said the discussions
between the federal government and the Tigrayans would run until Sunday, but
they remain shrouded in secrecy.
Ebba Kalondo, spokeswoman for AU Commission chair
Moussa Faki Mahamat, said in a message to AFP that “there was no date
limitation put on the talks”.
A diplomat with knowledge of the discussions
confirmed to AFP that the talks were continuing on Monday, but added: “They are
very strict about confidentiality.”
A source close to the Tigrayan delegation in South
Africa had told AFP at the weekend that the talks would likely continue until
Tuesday.
Humanitarian
response ‘constrained’
Diplomatic efforts to try to
bring the government and the rebels to the negotiating table gathered pace
after combat resumed in late August, torpedoing a five-month truce that had
allowed limited amounts of aid into Tigray.
The international community is calling for an
immediate cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access to Tigray where many
face hunger, and a withdrawal of Eritrean forces, whose return to the
battleground has raised fears of renewed atrocities against civilians.
The conflict erupted on November 4, 2020, when Abiy
sent troops into Tigray after accusing the TPLF, the regional ruling party, of
attacking federal army camps.
Since then, the fighting in Africa’s second most
populous country has forced well over two million people from their homes, and
according to US estimates, killed as many as half a million.
UNICEF said in a report issued at the weekend that
about 574,000 people alone had been displaced in Tigray as well as the
neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara since combat resumed in late August.
“Insecurity and restrictions on the movement of aid
continue to constrain the humanitarian response across the three regions,” it
said.
Tigray remains largely closed off to the outside
world with no communications and a shortage of food, fuel and medicines, while
access to northern Ethiopia is restricted for journalists.
The World Health Organization on Friday reported
that cases of malaria had increased by 80 percent in Tigray compared to a year
ago.
And according to the UN’s
World Food Program, the
rate of global acute malnutrition among children under five in Tigray is 29
percent.
Last week, Amnesty International said every party
involved in the war had committed crimes against humanity.
“Documented violations of human rights violations
... (include) rapes, sexual violence, ... lootings, torture, and extrajudicial
killings,” Fisseha Tekle, an Amnesty specialist on Ethiopia and Eritrea, told a
press conference in Nairobi.
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