A U.S. Department of State spokesperson affirmed the United States' support of an agreement between warring factions in Ethiopia to permanently cease hostilities that was signed earlier this month.
“The @_AfricanUnion's announcement of the signing of a cessation of hostilities between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front represents a significant step towards peace," DOS spokesperson Ned Price wrote in a Nov. 2 Tweet. "We stand ready to support the parties on implementation of the agreement."
The African Union (AU) announced the signing of the Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) between the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on Nov. 2.
Representatives from the government of Ethiopia and the TPLF met with AU mediators in Nairobi, Kenya on Nov. 7, per a provision in the COHA "wherein the parties agreed to organize a meeting of senior commanders within 5 days from the signing of the Agreement to discuss and work out detailed modalities on its implementation including, disarmament issues, taking into account the security situation on the ground," the AU reports.
The meeting was facilitated by AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa H.E Olusegun Obasanjo and AU High-Level Panel Members Uhuru Kenyatta and H.E Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, according to the AU.
“The expected outcomes of the meeting include modalities for silencing the guns, humanitarian access, and the restoration of services in the Tigray region,” the AU said in the release.
Goals for the meeting included creating a plan to immediately restore humanitarian access and services in the Tigray region, utilizing a hotline established by the participating parties within the first 24 hours of the agreement, to speed communication between senior commanders of both sides. The Associated Press (AP) reports that more than 5 million people living in the region have been cut off from communications, transport, and banking services since the fighting two years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the conflict, according to the AP report.
Abuses have been documented on both sides of the war in Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous country, with millions of people displaced and near famine.
AP reports a draft of the agreement was shared with the AP by "a diplomat." The draft states that within 30 days of the signing of COHA, Tigray forces will be disarmed, starting with “light weapons” and Ethiopian federal security forces would take full control of “all federal facilities, installations, and major infrastructure such as airports and highways within the Tigray region.” The final, detailed agreement was not made public, but the brief joint statement notes “a detailed program of disarmament” and ”restoration of constitutional order” in Tigray.
The AP reports that the efforts face "enormous challenges," such as convincing all of the warring factions to agree to lay down arms and withdraw. The neighboring country of Eritrea and forces from the Amhara region have been fighting with Ethiopia against Tigray, but were not included in the peace talks. It is not clear if either will honor the COHA, according to the AP.
