đź’ Ethiopia and Tigray Forces Agree to Truce in Calamitous Civil War
After two years of fighting that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced and facing starvation, the surprise deal came out of peace talks convened by the African Union in South Africa.
After two years of brutal civil war, the Ethiopian government and the leadership of the northern Tigray region agreed to stop fighting on Wednesday as part of a deal that offered a path out of a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions in Africa’s second-most-populous country.
Senior officials from both sides shook hands and smiled after signing an agreement in South Africa to cease hostilities, following 10 days of peace talks convened by the African Union.
The surprise deal came one day before the second anniversary of the start of the war, on Nov. 3-4, 2020, when simmering tensions between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia and the defiant leaders of the country’s Tigray region exploded into violence.
Mr. Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, initially billed the war as a “law and order” campaign that he promised would be swift, even bloodless. But it quickly degenerated into a grinding conflict accompanied by countless atrocities, including civilian massacres, gang rape and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.
The deal was signed by Getachew Reda, a senior leader in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and Redwan Hussien, Mr. Abiy’s national security adviser, in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital.
It contained a raft of provisions for disarming fighters, permitting humanitarian supplies to reach Tigray — where five million people urgently need food aid — and bringing a measure of stability to Ethiopia.
“We have agreed to permanently silence the guns and end the two years of conflict in northern Ethiopia,” the two sides said in a joint statement.
But mediators warned that it was just the first step in what would most likely be difficult negotiations before a permanent peace could be achieved. It was unclear how the deal’s provisions would be monitored or carried out. And negotiators cautioned that forces inside and outside Ethiopia could yet derail the process and tip the country back into war.
Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, welcomed Wednesday’s deal as an “important step toward peace.”
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House spokeswoman, said, “The United States remains committed to supporting this African Union-led process.”
