The Tigray Front and the Ethiopian government were asked on Wednesday by the United States and other Western nations to begin peace negotiations overseen by the African Union, while the neighbouring Eritrean government was requested to withdraw its troops from the front lines.
In a joint statement, the United States, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands voiced “grave concern” about the termination of a five-month cease-fire in late August and urged the combatants to halt their attacks.
In order to assist Ethiopia in achieving a lasting peace, she stated, “we urge on the parties to recognise that there is no military solution to the conflict and we call on the government of Ethiopia and the regional authority in Tigray to join in discussions led by the African Union.”
Western countries have warned of violations committed by all parties, including Ethiopia and the liberation of the people of Tigray and Eritrea, which have again engaged in the conflict in support of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abyei Ahmed.
The statement went on to say that “any sustainable settlement must involve responsibility for human rights abuses” and that “the resumption of fighting in northern Ethiopia poses considerable dangers from committing further human rights atrocities.”
The rebels initially expressed reservations about the African Union’s proximity to Abyei, but eventually agreed to accept its mediation after some hesitation.
The African Union called on the two parties to sit at the negotiating table in South Africa last week, but the talks did not take place for reasons that diplomats said, some of which were logistical.
The African Union had not prepared all the components, therefore his choice of some of the invitees to participate in this process was shocking to them, a senior Western official remarked at the end of the week.
One of the brokers, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, also made an announcement on Friday that he would not be taking part and that he would like “the structure of the conversations and its mechanisms” to be clarified. He also called for the inclusion of the item to halt hostilities among the agenda’s top priorities.
The future of the peace process was not something the African Union wanted to discuss.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Western nations urged Eritrea, one of the world’s most closed and authoritarian nations, to withdraw its troops and denounced “their intervention (which leads to) the escalation of” the conflict. “To all foreign parties to stop those practises that feed the crisis,” declared Western nations. The return of Eritrea to Ethiopia increased things significantly.
“The dialogues are urgently needed to put an end to the fighting, relieve the suffering, and find a method to advance in resolving the issues relating to dialogue,” Hummer stated during his visit to Nairobi on Saturday.
The “Tigray” front and Ethiopia are urged to begin peace negotiations by Western nations.
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