Peace talks between the warring factions in the brutal two-year conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region opened in Pretoria on Tuesday, the South African presidency announced.
The African Union (AU)-led negotiations follow a spate of fighting in recent weeks that has alarmed the international community and sparked fears among civilians caught in the crossfire.
“South Africa is holding peace talks to end the conflict in the Tigray region,” Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa, told reporters.
The talks “were convened to find a peaceful and sustainable solution to the devastating conflict,” he said, adding that they would run until October 30.
South Africa hopes that “the talks will be constructive and will lead to a successful outcome leading to peace for all the people of our dear sister country,” he said.
Talks between negotiators from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government in Ethiopia and regional authorities in war-torn Tigray resumed almost two months to the day after fighting resumed in August, shattering a five-month truce.
They are backed by the AU envoy to the Horn of Africa and Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo, joined by former Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa’s ex-Vice President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Magwenya said.
Diplomatic pressure has mounted in recent weeks to silence guns in a war that has left millions on humanitarian aid and up to half a million dead, according to a US estimate.
The talks come as federal government forces and their allies in the Eritrean army appear to be gaining the upper hand, taking a number of towns in Tigray in offensives that have forced civilians to flee.
An initial attempt by the AU to bring the two sides to the negotiating table earlier this month failed, with diplomats suggesting logistical issues and a lack of preparation were to blame.
The talks in South Africa are the first public hearings between the rivals, although a Western official has confirmed previous clandestine contacts organized by the United States have taken place in the Seychelles and twice in Djibouti.
Abiy first deployed troops to Tigray in November 2020, pledging a swift victory over the northern region’s dissident leaders, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), following attacks by the group on federal army camps.
The move followed longstanding tensions with the TPLF, which had dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition before Abiy came to power in 2018, marginalizing the party.
In a rare comment on the conflict last week, Abiy – who received the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his rapprochement with Eritrea – said the war “would end and there would be peace”.
But on Monday, the head of the rebel region, Debretsion Gebremichael, issued a defiant statement, saying: “The Tigray Army has the ability to completely defeat our enemies.”
The international community is calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access to Tigray and a withdrawal of Eritrean forces whose return to the battlefield has raised fears of renewed atrocities against civilians.
