A peace agreement after two years of conflict was signed on November 2 in Pretoria, South Africa, providing in particular for the disarmament of rebel forces, the restoration of federal authority in Tigray and the delivery of aid.
The belligerents signed a joint declaration in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, on Saturday to facilitate “humanitarian access to all those in need in Tigray and neighboring regions”.
The signed document also provides “safety guarantees for humanitarian workers”. This agreement is to take “immediate effect”.
“We have concluded our long (…) negotiations to peacefully resolve the war in Tigray”, wrote in a tweet Sunday Getachew Reda, spokesman for the rebel authorities of Tigray, present at the negotiations in Pretoria and Nairobi. . “What lies ahead and how we deal with it is much bigger than the path we have traveled so far,” he continued.
The agreement signed in Pretoria provided for the disarmament of the Tigrayan forces. The two parties agreed on Saturday that “the disarmament of heavy weapons will be done simultaneously with the withdrawal of foreign forces”, in reference to Eritrea, a country bordering Tigray, which supports the Ethiopian army in the region.
“We welcome the agreement (…) to allow immediate and unhindered humanitarian access to Tigray and neighboring regions,” WHO boss Tedros Adhanom, himself a Tigray and former senior official of the party from which the rebel authorities come, affirming that “the people have a massive need for medical assistance”.
“We already have teams in Tigray, (and neighboring regions of) Afar and Amhara, and we are preparing to provide more humanitarian aid,” a spokesman told AFP on Sunday. of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.
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Tigray, a region in northern Ethiopia, is cut off from the rest of the country and deprived of electricity, telecommunications networks, banking services and fuel.
The road and air transport of humanitarian aid has been almost completely interrupted since the resumption of fighting on August 24, after a five-month truce.
The conflict in Tigray began in November 2020 when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abyi Ahmed sent the federal army there to arrest leaders in the region, who had challenged his authority for months and whom he accused of attacking federal military bases. on the spot.
Initially defeated, Tigray rebel forces regained control of most of the region during 2021, in a counter-offensive that spilled over into Amhara and Afar and saw them approach Addis Ababa.
The rebels then retreated towards Tigray.
The results of this conflict marked by countless abuses, which took place largely behind closed doors, journalists not having access to the area, are unknown. But the International Crisis Group (ICG) and Amnesty International (AI) describe it as “one of the deadliest in the world”.
The war has also displaced more than two million Ethiopians and plunged hundreds of thousands into near-famine conditions, according to the UN.
