Former President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to lead Ethiopia-Tigray peace talks scheduled to take place on Sunday in South Africa.
This after the Ethiopian government yesterday accepted an invitation by the African Union (AU) to participate in peace talks aimed at ending a two-year conflict with Tigray forces.
Through a statement, the government of Ethiopia noted that the talks should only be mediated by the African Union and should be held without any pre-conditions.
“The Government of the federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia remains committed to adopting all possible measures to resolve the conflict in a manner that ensures lasting peace, territorial integrity of the country and will continue upholding this commitment,” read the statement.
The leader of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the federal government have been invited to peace talks in South Africa this weekend as part of a pan-African effort to end one of the world’s most overlooked wars.
Debretsion Gebremichael said he is ready to send a negotiating team but has questions about who else might take part, “considering that we were not consulted prior to the issuance of this invitation.”
The letter from the chair of the AU Commission says the AU-convened talks would be “aimed at laying the foundation for a structured and sustained mediation” between the two sides toward a “durable resolution of the conflict.”
Other leaders to facilitate the talks are AU special envoy and former Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo with the support of former South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
A diplomat in Addis Ababa said representatives from the European Union, the United Nations and the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development are expected to attend the talks as observers in support of the AU’s mediation team.
The talks come more than a month after fighting in Tigray renewed following months of relative calm.
Forces from neighbouring Eritrea, allied with Ethiopia’s government, are again joining the fighting in what Tigray forces have described as a large-scale offensive.
The United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa (SEHOA) Mike Hammer is also expected to tour Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa in a 2 week visit from October 3-18 as part of the ongoing U.S. diplomatic efforts to achieve an immediate end of antagonisms in Northern Ethiopia and support the launch of African Union-led peace talks.
“Special Envoy Hammer is returning to the region as part of ongoing U.S. diplomatic efforts to achieve an immediate cessation of hostilities in northern Ethiopia and support the launch of African Union-led peace talks,” read a statement from the Office of the Spokesperson.