Ethiopian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Marshall Birhanu Jula, left, and Tigray Force Commander Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede, right, exchange copies of the signed agreement, at the Ethiopian peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday.
Brian Inanga/AP
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Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces Marshal Birhanu Jula, left, and Tigray Force Chief, Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede, right, exchange signed copies of an agreement, at the Ethiopian peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday.
Brian Inanga / AP
NAIROBI, Kenya – Top military commanders from Ethiopia and its crowded Tigray region have agreed to allow unhindered humanitarian access to the region and form a joint disarmament committee after the armistice agreement last week.
The commanders, who have been meeting since Monday in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, signed an agreement on Saturday that they said called for a withdrawal from all forms of military activity.
Both sides have agreed to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to an area of more than 5 million people, according to a copy of the agreement reported by the Associated Press.
The agreement states that disarmament will “be done concurrently with the withdrawal of foreign and non-(Ethiopian army) forces” from Tigray.
Ethiopia’s top negotiator, Redwan Hussein, told the AP that Saturday’s signing event created a guiding environment for ongoing peace efforts, noting that the next meeting of the leaders Military leadership “most likely” will be held in Tigray in mid-December before the final meeting. in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, in January.
In a separate statement late Saturday, Ethiopia’s federal authorities said that “efforts are being made to provide humanitarian assistance to much of the Tigray region led by (Ethiopian military) .”
That statement noted that representatives of the Ethiopian and Tigrayan militaries meeting in Kenya discussed a “detailed plan to disarm” Tigray’s forces, including an agreement to bring Ethiopian forces into the capital, Mekele. by Tigrayan.
The African Union-led talks in Nairobi follow an agreement to end hostilities signed by the leaders of Ethiopia and Tigray in South Africa last week.
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is helping to facilitate the talks, said on Saturday that “humanitarian aid should have resumed as it was yesterday.” Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who was also involved in the talks, thanked the commanders for their commitment to peace.
The head of Tigray Force, Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede, left, and Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces Marshall Birhanu Jula, right, read a copy of an agreement at the Ethiopian peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday.
Brian Inanga / AP
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Brian Inanga / AP
The head of the Tigray Force, Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede, left, and the Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces Marshal Birhanu Jula, right, read a copy of the agreement at the Ethiopian peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, on Saturday.
Brian Inanga/AP
The Tigray conflict began in November 2020, less than a year after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for making peace with Eritrea, which borders the Tigray region, and whose fighters have fought fighting alongside the Ethiopian federal army in Tigray.
Eritrea is not explicitly mentioned in the peace accords and a diplomat who attended the talks in Nairobi said the Eritrea issue was a highlight this week.
The brutal fighting in Tigray, which spread to the Amhara and Afar regions as Tigrayan forces tried to break the military blockade in their area, flared up again in August after months of lull that allowed thousands of trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Tigray.
The war in Africa’s second most populous country, which lasted two years on 4 November, has seen abuses recorded on both sides, with millions displaced and many more near famine.
Phone and internet connections to Tigray remain cut, and foreign journalists and human rights researchers remain banned, further complicating efforts to verify reports of ongoing violence in the region.
