Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday said the government would begin talks with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) in Tanzania this week, reported Reuters.
It’s the first time that the Ethiopian government has formally said it would start negotiation talks with the OLA rebel group, which is active in Ethiopia’s largest and most populous Oromia region.
“A negotiation with Oneg Shene will start a day after tomorrow in Tanzania,” Abiy said on Sunday, using another name for the OLA.
He said the negotiation process is very crucial for the country and called upon all groups to play their part.
The Ethiopian prime minister made the statement in a speech to celebrate the peace deal his government signed with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in November to end the Tigray war.
He gave no other details on the format and mediators of the talks. He, however, said all parties should understand that they will benefit nothing from war.
The OLA also confirmed the talks in a statement released on Monday. The group said that it was an important and positive step from the government towards establishing peace in the region.
It said that Prime Minister Abiy’s the government had accepted the group’s terms for peace negotiations, including the inclusion of a third-party mediator.
Notably, the OLA is was born out of the Oromo Liberation Front, an opposition party that that was formally banned but it returned from exile after Abiy rose to power in 2018.
The Ethiopian government and OLA blame each other for several attacks in the Oromia region. The government designated OLA as a terrorist organization in May 2021.
In February, the state-appointed human rights commission clamed OLA for an attack in which over 50 people were killed.
In October, the OLA and another Oromo group blamed the Ethiopian government for airstrikes they said had killed a number of civilians.
