A truce in Tigray

Islam News – Ethiopia’s government and rebel forces in the northern Tigray region will end their brutal civil war. A team of mediators said the two parties had agreed to “a permanent cessation of hostilities.”

The war, which began in November 2020, has led to widespread destruction and extensive human rights violations, including massacres, ethnic cleansing and sexual violence. As many as 500,000 people have died as a result of the conflict, and hundreds of thousands are displaced. And famine looms.

The announcement came after 10 days of peace talks, convened in South Africa by the African Union. At the start of the negotiations, the conflict had been intensifying, and Ethiopia and its Eritrean allies were advancing toward Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region.

“This agreement to cede hostilities is an important step and brings a much-needed respite to those devastated by the two-year civil war,” Abdi Latif Dahir, The Times East Africa correspondent, told me. “But it is not the end point and both parties will have to do a lot of work and overcome mistrust to ensure that permanent peace is achieved and aid reaches millions who are in dire need.”

Analysis: “South Africa’s foreign minister Naledi Pandor remarked that she was the ‘most nervous person in the room,’” my Johannesburg-based colleague Lynsey Chutel told me. “I think that showed just how high-stakes these talks were, not just for Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, but for the whole continent.”

Source: The New York Times