Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Friday met with Tigrayan leaders for the first time since the two factions agreed to a peace deal ending two years of war, reported The Reuters.
Abiy and other government officials met senior leaders of the Tigray region forces about three months since the Addis Ababa government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) signed agreements to permanently cease hostilities.
The conflict has killed thousands of people, displaced millions from their homes, and left hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine. The war began in Tigray but gradually spilled into the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.
On Twitter, Abiy’s national security adviser Redwan Hussein said that the Ethiopian prime minister and other officials met and held a discussion with the TPLF delegation regarding the progress of the peace process.
“As a result, PM Abiy passed decisions about increasing flights, banking & other issues that would boost trust & ease lives of civilians,” he tweeted.
According to the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, the two sides evaluated actions carried out on the implementation of the Pretoria and Nairobi peace agreements so far and discussed issues that need further attention.
As per reports, the meeting was held at a resort in southern Ethiopia.
Under the terms of the peace deal signed in November last year, the Tigrayan rebels agreed to disarm and re-establish the federal government authority in return for the restoration of aid access to Tigray.
Since the signing of the deal, there has been a limited resumption of aid deliveries to Tigray, which has been facing dire shortages of food, fuel, cash, and medicines.
Basic services such as electricity, communications, and banking are being gradually restored to the conflict-hit region of six million people. The national carrier Ethiopian Airlines also resumed commercial flights between Addis Ababa and Tigray’s capital Mekele last month.
