The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces on Saturday signed an agreement laying out a road map for the implementation of a peace deal that both sides reached in South Africa this month.
Representatives from the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have been meeting in Nairobi since Monday last week to reach agreement on aspects related to the implementation of the peace pact signed in Pretoria.
The declaration is expected to boost efforts by African Union mediators to resolve a two-year conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions in the Horn of Africa country.
Photo: AFP
It would facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, provide security guarantees to aid workers, ensure the protection of civilians and establish a joint committee to oversee implementation, mediators said.
The deal would be put into effect “immediately,” mediator Olusegun Obasanjo told a news conference before the signing.
Both sides said they were committed to the declaration, saying that it was the only way to restore peace and stability.
“We will fully dedicate ourselves to implementing the Pretoria agreement and this declaration,” said Ethiopian National Defense Force Chief of General Staff Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, one of the government representatives at the talks.
Ethiopian military officials and the TPLF had reached an agreement on the disarmament of TPLF fighters and entry of the Ethiopian military into the Tigrayan capital of Mekele, the federal government said in a statement issued after the signing.
Disarmament would start tomorrow, the declaration, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, showed.
The role of Eritrea, which has not participated in the talks, remains concerning, analysts say.
Its troops have fought in the conflict on the side of the Ethiopian army.
“Disarmament of heavy weapons will be done with the withdrawal of foreign and non-ENDF [Ethiopian military] forces from the region,” the declaration signed on Saturday said, without specifically naming any foreign forces.
Eritrean Minister of Information Yemane Meskel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One of TPLF’s representatives, General Tadesse Werede, said the declaration on implementation had given them hope that the suffering of the people in Tigray would end.
Asked if it included accountability for war crimes, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, another mediator, said that would come “when the guns are silenced and the dire humanitarian situation is addressed.”
“There shall be severe sanctions against anyone who commits atrocities against civilians,” he said.
Immediate humanitarian access would be welcome relief in a region where hundreds of thousands face famine conditions.
On Friday, Ethiopia’s government said international aid was “allowed and ready” to move into Tigray.
Agencies were preparing to send an aid convoy to Alamata in southern Tigray next week, and working out the final details for getting aid to other areas, a senior humanitarian official in Ethiopia said on Saturday.
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