Ethiopia: "Government of Tigray" sets conditions for ceasefire
Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) soldiers in Mekele.
Drawing).
AFP - YASUYOSHI CHIBA
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In Ethiopia, after having reconquered much of the territory lost during the war, the Tigray Defense Forces on Sunday set seven conditions for the acceptance of the ceasefire decreed by Addis Ababa.
In a long statement signed by the "Government of Tigray", the rebellion says it accepts "in principle" what the UN and many foreign chancelleries have asked it in recent days.
But the conditions it sets make a deal with federal authorities unlikely.
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First, those who now proclaim themselves the “Government of Tigray” demand the withdrawal of the Eritrean forces and the Amhara militias in their territories of origin and the end of their interference in the Ethiopian conflicts.
Then, they demand that the Ethiopian prime minister and the Eritrean president “be held to account” for crimes committed since November, based on a UN investigation. Then free access for humanitarian aid, restoration of telecommunications, electricity, banking, airlines and other public services, recognition of the legitimacy and rights of the government of Tigray, as well as framework of the Federal Constitution to hold a political dialogue, the release of Tigrayan prisoners and the end of the harassment of Tigrayans in the country, and finally the establishment of an “independent international entity” to supervise the ceasefire.
It would therefore only be under these conditions which are obviously difficult for Addis Ababa to accept and, the statement said, "subject to" having "a foolproof guarantee that the security" of the Tigrayans "will not be compromised by a second series of invasions ”, that the ceasefire could be proclaimed by the forces led from Mekele by the former president of the province who had come
out of the bush, Debretsion Gebremichael
.
►Also read: In Ethiopia, the humanitarian situation is extremely worrying in Tigray
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