The warring parties in the Ethiopian conflict agreed on a peace roadmap on Saturday (November 12). The Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces and the Chief of the Tigray Armed Forces signed an agreement in Nairobi, Kenya, calling for the withdrawal of all forms of military activity.
Both sides agreed to protect civilians and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the war-torn northern Tigray region. The African Union-led Nairobi talks followed the end of hostilities signed last week by Ethiopia and Tigray leaders in South Africa. We wish to express our full commitment to bring peace and stability to our people and country.
Therefore, we will fully dedicate our service to the implementation of the Pretoria Agreement and this Declaration," said Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces. To this end, we would like to express our full commitment to the people of Ethiopia to this body and to the world," he concluded.
We have endured and are still suffering a great deal of misery over the past two years. The commitment we are making today is in the hope and expectation that our suffering of the people will soon come to an end,' reinforced General Tadesse Werede, Commander-in-Chief of the Tigray Forces. The commanders, who have met since November signed the agreement on November 12.
The agreement states that disarmament will be carried out "simultaneously with the withdrawal of foreign troops and not (Ethiopian military)" from Tigray. Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is helping to facilitate the talks, said Saturday that "humanitarian aid should resume as it did yesterday". Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also involved in the talks, thanked the commanders for their commitment to peace.
According to the Ethiopian federal government's 1chief negotiator, the next meeting of military leaders will "probably" take place in Tigray in mid-December, before a final meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in January. The Tigray conflict began in November 2020.
Brutal fighting spread to the Amhara and Afar regions as Tigrayan forces attempted to breach the military blockade of their region. The war in Africa's second most populous country, which turned two years old on November 4, has seen documented abuse on both sides, with millions displaced and many on the brink of famine. After months of silence that allowed thousands of humanitarian aid trucks to reach Tigray, the eruption erupted again in August. banned, complicating efforts to verify reports of ongoing violence in the area.