Ethiopia’s Tigray forces offer conditional truce

 

The Tigrayan forces have offered a conditional truce as fighting intensifies between them and pro-government forces and humanitarian aid is cut off in northern Ethiopia, a TPLF spokesman said Friday.

 

The resumption of fighting on August 24 ended a five-month truce.

 

In a letter sent Wednesday to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) leader Debretsion Gebremichael called for a conditional end to hostilities as fighting intensified on several fronts.

 

In this letter, obtained by AFP and authenticated by Getachew Reda, spokesman for the TPLF, Debretsion Gebremichael said that the truce depended in particular on "unhindered humanitarian access" and the return of essential services in the Tigray region.

 

Tigray, located in northern Ethiopia, is cut off from the rest of the country and deprived of electricity, telecommunications networks, banking services, and fuel.

 

The delivery of humanitarian aid by road and air has also been completely interrupted since the fighting resumed. This return to hostilities "is already affecting the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable people, including the delivery of vital humanitarian assistance" in Afar, Amhara, and Tigray, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday.

 

The fighting has intensified in northern Tigray where the Ethiopian army, backed by forces from neighboring Eritrea, is targeting Tigray defense force (TDF) positions, a diplomatic source and a foreign source, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

 

Journalists do not have access to northern Ethiopia, making independent verification impossible.

 

Eritrean forces in Ethiopia

 

In his letter, Debretsion Gebremichael called for "the departure of Eritrean forces from Ethiopia and the Tigray territory under international supervision.

 

The TPLF leader also called on the UN Security Council to remove troops from western Tigray, a region disputed and claimed by both Amharas and Tigrayans, causing widespread displacement. Washington has also denounced "acts of ethnic cleansing" in this region.

 

This letter has not received an official response from the Ethiopian government.

 

Both sides are blaming one other for the recent escalation of hostilities while diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict continue.

American special envoy for the Horn of Africa Mike Hammer, who arrived in Addis Abeba on Monday, is extending his stay in Ethiopia since his European counterpart Annette Weber is due to arrive, according to diplomatic sources who declined to provide any additional information to AFP.

 

When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed dispatched the army to Tigray in November 2020 to remove the region's rebellious authorities on the grounds that they had attacked military sites, the crisis in northern Ethiopia erupted.