TPLF reaches preliminary agreement with Abiy Ahmed’s party

ADDIS ABABA - The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has for the first time reached an agreement with the Property Party which is associated with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, whose two-year dispute with the faction caused a prolonged conflict in Ethiopia.

According to Addis Standard, the Property Party and the TPLF discussed issues giving room for in-depth dialogue involving the two sides as agreed in the Nairobi and Pretoria agreement which effectively ended the conflict in the Horn of Africa nation.

State media reported that the senior representatives of the two sides "have agreed on the principles of party-to-party discussion and have started identifying the agenda for the next discussion."

On April 2nd, the two parties held a decisive meeting in Mekelle, the regional administrative capital of Tigray. This was the first-ever meeting between the two parties in compliance with the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) of November 2022 aimed at addressing the political root causes of the two-year brutal war in the Tigray region.

Adem Farah, Vice President of the Prosperity Party, and other senior party officials including Defense Minister Abraham Belay and Transport and Logistics Minister Alemu Sime attended both the first and second meetings, whereas TPLF is represented by its Chairman Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD) and joined by two Executive Committees of the party in today's meeting.

The short muted video released by state media about the meeting does not show if Getachew Reda, President of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration (TIRA), who was at the first meeting, is attending the second meeting today, the Addis Standard further adds.

Ethiopia’s long-standing conflict has successfully ended, paving the way for development and prosperity. But in recent weeks, Addis Ababa has been at a crossroads with Somalia after it signed a controversial agreement with Somaliland over control of sections of the Red Sea.

So severe has been the conflict leading to serious confrontations with Somalia closing Ethiopia’s embassy while insisting on 'respect to our territorial integrity'. The international community has called for dialogue to end the hostility between the two countries.

GAROWE ONLINE