Ethiopian government accepts AU invitation to peace talks
ETHIOPIA’S government said yesterday it had accepted an AU invitation to hold peace talks with Tigrayan rebels after almost two years of brutal war in the north of the country.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s national security adviser, Redwan Hussein, said on Twitter the government had “accepted this invitation which is in line with our principled position regarding the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the need to have talks without preconditions”.
The government communication service said the AU had set “both the date and the venue” for the talks but did not elaborate.
AU spokesperson Ebba Kalondo declined to provide information about when and where the talks would take place, telling AFP, “We will communicate details as and when appropriate”, adding that the process remained “on track”.
There was no immediate response from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) to the announcement, which comes more than a month after intense fighting resumed in northern Ethiopia, shattering a March truce and dimming hopes of ending the war.
The deepening conflict has raised international alarm, with the US this week announcing that its special envoy to the region, Mike Hammer, would be making his second visit to Ethiopia in as many months to seek a halt to the fighting.
The latest upsurge has also drawn Eritrean troops back to the battlefield in support of Ethiopia’s federal and regional forces, which are fighting the TPLF on multiple fronts.
Tigrayan authorities said last month they were ready to participate in talks mediated by the AU, removing an obstacle to negotiations with the government in Addis Ababa.
But fighting has escalated in the weeks since.
A diplomatic source said the talks would be mediated by “a troika of negotiators”, including the bloc’s Horn of Africa envoy Olusegun Obasanjo and former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Another source said South Africa’s former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka would serve as the third negotiator.