Less than two months after two warring sides in the Ethiopian civil war signed a peace accord, a high-level Ethiopian government delegation made the first visit to the capital of rebel-held Tigray on Monday.
As the two sides applauded the visit, the Tigrayan side said that the talks also aimed at restoring key services in the northern region.
“The delegation is the first of its stature as a high-level federal government body heading to Mekele in two years,” the Ethiopian government said in a statement.
“This gesture is an attestation to the peace agreement getting on the right track and progressing,” it said.
The team was led by House of Peoples Representatives speaker Tagesse Chafo and included Redwan Hussein, who is the security adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, as well as the ministers of justice, transport and communication and labour.
The head of Ethiopia’s road infrastructure authority and the heads of Ethiopian Airlines, Ethio Telecom and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, representing services Tigray desperately lacks, were also present, the government said.
Chafo hailed “the discussions we had, the reception we have received as well as the moments we spent together, there is big hope”.
Tigrayan spokesman Getachew Reda on Twitter described the visit as “a milestone” in the peace agreement.
“Fruitful discussions were held and important understanding reached,” he said.
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia head Abie Sano said, “system correction and audit works” were to be completed this week so that services could start.
After staying several hours, the officials and CEOs returned to the capital Addis Ababa, but “technical staff are staying here”, Getachew said.
Tigrayan leader warns against ‘half peace’
Meanwhile, the Tigrayan leader Debretsion Gebremichael warned against a “half-peace” and said medicine supplies to the region remained “very limited”.
“We don’t want half a peace, where one half (of Tigray) is in peace and the other half is being killed, massacred and invaded,” he said. “This siege has to be completely lifted.”
Pro-government forces, specifically the troops from Eritrea to the north, and militias from the neighbouring Ethiopian region of Amhara are not mentioned in the peace deal but remain in Tigray, AFP reported.
The rebel authorities, local people and aid workers there have told AFP that these forces have carried out looting, raping, summary executions and abductions.
About the Ethiopian civil war
The war began in November 2020 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray after accusing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the ruling party in the region, of attacking the country’s army bases.
The United States has estimated that as many as half a million people have died in the now plateauing conflict.
(With inputs from agencies)
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