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In Ethiopia, Negotiations Are Organized Behind The Scenes Between The Government And The Rebels Of Tigray

Le Monde

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during a ceremony honoring members of the Federal Police in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on June 5, 2022. AMANUEL SILESHI / AFP

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the insurgents in the north of the country are expected to meet around the same table in Tanzania from the end of June.

After the truce, peace? As humanitarian aid trucks have been pouring into Ethiopia’s rebel northern province since March, Abiy Ahmed’s government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) insurgents are now reportedly considering negotiations. According to several African and Western diplomats, discussions could begin as early as the end of June in Tanzania, probably in the city of Arusha, known for having already hosted the Rwandan peace process in 1993.
At the origin of this rapprochement, Olusegun Obasanjo, the special envoy for the Horn of Africa of the African Union (AU), has multiplied in recent months the round trips between Addis Ababa and Makalé, the provincial capital. of Tigray. Backed behind the scenes by Western chancelleries, the 86-year-old former Nigerian president has been pleading since September 2021 for a permanent and complete ceasefire between the Ethiopian federal authorities and the rebels. The war, launched in November 2020,  has already left tens of thousands dead, millions displaced, and plunged northern Ethiopia into a serious humanitarian crisis.
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9 thoughts on “In Ethiopia, Negotiations Are Organized Behind The Scenes Between The Government And The Rebels Of Tigray”

  1. “As humanitarian aid trucks have been pouring into Ethiopia’s rebel northern province…”

    When will humanitarian aid trucks ‘drizzle’ into the un-rebellious provinces of Amhara and Afar, where millions have been displaced and devastated by the power war between TPLF and Prosperity Party?

    Why are so-called humanitarian organizations and the Ethiopian government so interested in pouring aid into Tigray but ignore hundreds of thousands of Amhara displaced from Oromia and Benshangul Gumuz starting even before the TPLF-PP war?

    Why are the negotiations done behind the public? These two groups are in power through military might only. They are both terrorists and the Ethiopian people have no need for them.

  2. Trusting Abiy AHmed is like trying to scoopie cloud with a spade. There is no gurantee that he won’t let TPLF take back what has historically and legitmately been Amhara territory. The best gurantee is for the Amharas to unite and resist the combined aggresion by TPLF and OPDO forces. We can’t get anyrhing when we are weak and vulnerable.

  3. Hi!

    What is in it for Ethiopia? What is there to negotiate with Criminals? Criminal TPLF leaders should stand trial for massacre! When the TPLF massacred the Ethiopian Army Northern Command [EANC] and ignited this war, the Ethiopian Army to TPLF Army ratio was 44,000:250, 000. Note that the 250K TPLF Army is STILL in Tigray.

    The actual number of Tigrayans in Tigray is about 4 million. The rest live all over Ethiopia and abroad. So, what the TPLF looted from Ethiopia’s banks, the EANC, etc. could have sustained Tigray for a decade. However, the White Supremacist West [WSW] wants to resuscitate its Horn of Africa’s Loyal Dog [TPLF] using catch-phrases:

    1). ‘Human Rights Violations [HRV] in Tigray’: That is the WSW’s way of covering up its own Dog’s 27-year looting-and-killing spree written in HRV. What more HRV is there than massacring the EANC that protected Tigray from Eritrea’s EPLF for 20 years?

    2). ‘Humanitarian Aid to Tigray’: Didn’t the TPLF loot everything in sight after its EANC massacre? Note that penniless secessionist TPLF-EPLF leaders became overnight millionaires after Invading-and-Occupying Ethiopia in 1991. Now, TPLF’s Loot Update:

    i). Tons of Cash: the salary and operation expenses of the EANC kept at its HQ.
    ii). Tons of Food & Medical supplies: Stock-piled for the EANC [worth billions of Birr].
    iii). Fuel: Hundreds of thousands of liters stock-piled by the EANC worth billions of Birr.
    iv). Cash [5.3 billion Birr] at Mekelle Airport: a plane load of 4 billion old notes [to be sent to NBE] and another plane load of 1.3 billion new notes [sent by NBE for Tigray banks].
    v). Cash & valuables: Tons of cash & valuables in the CBE branches all over Tigray.
    vi). Cash: Millions of Birr meant for the salary of government workers in Tigray!

    3). ‘Leave Western Tigray [Humera, Wolkait, Tegede, Tselemt, etc.]’ crap: TPLF annexed them in 1991 from Gonder. TPLF also annexed parts of Wollo, Affar, etc. What exactly do you negotiate? Do you reward Criminals?

    i_Mognu / don_Q

    1. Dear i_Mognu/don_Q,
      Just to let you know how much I appreciate your well-argued responses. And the fact that you are doing this in defense of Ethiopia (not some ethnic group). Please keep up the good work. At times it may appear you are a lone voice of reason in the wild Ethiopian cyber world. Remember your input could and would encourage someone to not stand by but join in the fight of our very life as a nation. Thanks.

  4. By all means peaceful this senseless war must come to an end. It all started by stupid individuals for utterly stupid reasons. Debre said ‘I’m gonna hold an election in the region whether the Election Board certifies it or not.’ The Federal Government through Birtukan bint Mideksa led Elections Board told Debre ‘No you can’t and if you do it will not be certified’. Yes I can! No you can’t! Yes I can; no you can’t! The nonsense argy-bargies went on for months. Then it escalated into ‘He is about to invade me; No I am not; Yes you are; No I am not! Then suddenly kaboom! Missiles started raining on Bahr Dar and Asmara! The showy election did not make milk and honey rain from the skies of Tigray but bombs were; artilleries were!; disease and starvation were!!! Rapes and deaths were!!!! Someone may try to tell me that the loss and thorough destruction are justified because they resulted in the process of protecting principles. Principle? What principle? Someone may tell me that it was all worth it because they resulted in the process of protecting freedom. Now you are mocking me with that. Was there freedom as we know it in Tigray? When was that? It was and still is a stupid conflict started by highly educated men who never learned anything and turned into nincompoops. I hope and pray that both sides have finally started getting their marbles back and working!!! Insha’Allah!!!!

  5. The TPLF is ranting and threatening to regain all the territories it claims and has not softened its rhetoric. War mongering this time could be an empty threat because the TPLF has lost tens of thousands of its fighters and can not muster enough force. On the other hand, the free flow of humanitarian aid should be conditional on the TPLF meeting basic conditions such as delivery to the needy and ending diversion for its army. Holding Tigrayans as hostages and at the same time demanding free flow of aid are contradictory and will only prolong the suffering of the people.

  6. As its political history demonstrates, the TPLF uses all the means including negotiations for peace as its survival strategy. As a fascist and seeker of vengeance, it will only use it as a time buying tactic to bolster its forces and start a war. I hope that the Abiy government is aware of the risks involved with reaching a peace settlement and allowing the TPLF a breathing space and room to reinvigorate itself and pose a threat. The Amhara and Afar regions should take their own decisions and put in place defensive measures to face another round of TPLF aggression. .

  7. Subject:” In Ethiopia, Negotiations Are Organized Behind The Scenes Between The Government And The Rebels Of
    Tigray” Le Mond, JUNE 10, 2022

    Humble Question:
    Would the above political practice EQUALLY applicable to the other eight parts of Ethiopia — following the example of mighty Tigray??? Just a curious question.

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