Tigrayan rebels have set up a team of negotiators to discuss peace with the Ethiopian government, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said on Monday, reported Africa News. The development comes almost a month after federal authorities established a team of seven negotiators for possible peace talks.
The Ethiopian federal government’s own negotiation committee held its first meeting on July 14. It accused the Tigrayan rebels of taking no steps towards peace.
Notably, no date, place, or framework have been set for the upcoming negotiations so far. The talks were first mentioned by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in June.
The two factions continue to differ on who would be the mediator of the peace talks. Addis Ababa only wants to discuss under the aegis of the African Union (AU), but, the rebels are demanding mediation by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The rebels, from the TPLF party that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades until 2018, decries the closeness of the AU mediator, Nigerian Olusegun Obasanjo, to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The Tigrayan rebels wants any talks would have to involve Kenyatta, who has played an active role in peace efforts.
The conflict erupted in November 2020 when the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy sent federal military troops to topple the TPLF, the region’s former ruling party, saying it was in response to rebel attacks on army camps.
After the TPLF made a comeback in June, retaking Tigray and then expanding into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara, fighting intensified in the second half of 2021, before reaching a stalemate. The Fighting has come to a halt since a humanitarian truce was declared at the end of March.
The conflict has driven hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine, displaced more than two million and left more than nine million in need of food aid, according to the United Nations.
