Ethiopian Prime Minister (PM), Abiy Ahmed, vowed on Tuesday “to implement honestly” a ceasefire agreement between his government and forces in Tigray, which he said was necessary to ensure peace.
The truce signed on November 2 agreed to end a two-year war that has devastated the Tigray region, killing thousands, displacing millions, and threatening the unity of Africa’s second-most populous nation.
Prime Minister Ahmed’s government and representatives from Tigray on Saturday signed a further deal for implementing the ceasefire.
“We have moved one step forward. We have discussed, agreed and signed. The next thing expected from us will be to implement honestly what we have promised to make the peace sustainable,” Prime Minister Ahmed told Ethiopia’s national parliament after hearing questions from lawmakers.
The comments were his first on the truce since he issued a statement on November 2.
The war, which has pitted Prime Minister Ahmed’s government against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – the party which dominates the region – was rooted in old grievances between the political elites of ethnically-based regions built up over decades of violent regime change, territorial disputes between regions and long periods of authoritarian rule.
Prime Minister Ahmed, whose ascent to power in 2018 ended nearly three decades of dominance by the TPLF over Ethiopia’s central government, has accused the TPLF of seeking to reassert its power at the national level.
—Reuters
