The announcement follows discussions in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on the implementation of the peace agreement signed on November 2 in Pretoria (South Africa), including the disarmament of rebel forces, the restoration of federal authority in Tigray and the delivery of aid.
The agreement signed on Saturday by Field Marshal Berhanu Jula, Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces (ENDF), and General Tadesse Worede, Commander-in-Chief of the Tigray rebel forces, provides “humanitarian access to all those in the needed in Tigray and neighboring regions”. The signed document also provides “safety guarantees for humanitarian workers”.
This will be “with immediate effect”, declared for his part the former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, special envoy of the African Union (AU) for the Horn of Africa present at the signing of the agreement.
“We have fought for the past two years to defend our interests…we have suffered untold misery,” said Tadesse Worede. “And we still suffer.”
“Our commitment is to bring stability and peace,” assured Marshal Berhanu Jula.
This agreement is a way to “silence the guns”, according to former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, special envoy of the AU, also present.
Ethiopian federal authorities said in a statement posted on Twitter on Saturday that “efforts are being made to provide humanitarian assistance to most of the Tigray region” controlled by the ENDF. “Basic services are slowly being restored in some areas,” the statement continued.
On Thursday, the government in Addis Ababa said aid was “flowing in like never before” to Tigray. The authorities had also said they control about 70% of the Tigray region.
These assertions “are not based on any reality”, had then replied to AFP Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the rebel authorities of Tigray.
A humanitarian worker based in Tigray had also denied to AFP any arrival of aid in this region of six million inhabitants, almost cut off from the world.
On Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom, himself a Tigrayan and a former senior official of the party from which the rebel authorities came, had already denounced the lack of arrival of aid in Tigray since the peace agreement.
Despite this agreement, access to a part of northern Ethiopia, including Tigray, remains forbidden to journalists. It is therefore impossible to verify these assertions and to know the precise positions of the belligerents before or since the peace agreement.
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.
– Crimes against humanity –
Fighting in Tigray resumed on August 24 after a five-month truce.
Tigray 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 also been completely interrupted since the resumption of fighting.
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 outcome of this conflict marked by countless abuses, which took place largely behind closed doors, is unknown. But the International Crisis Group (ICG) and Amnesty International (AI) describe it as “one of the deadliest in the world”.
Crimes against humanity have been committed “by all parties” with complete “impunity” in Tigray, accused Amnesty International on October 26, which did not rule out “genocide”.
The war has also displaced more than two million Ethiopians and plunged hundreds of thousands into near-famine conditions, according to the UN.
