Diplomats: Ethiopian peace talks postponed due to logistical reasons

The African Union-led peace talks aimed at ending the two-year conflict in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have been postponed due to logistical reasons, two diplomatic sources and the Tigray People's Liberation Front said on Friday.

It was proposed to hold talks early next week.

Both the Ethiopian government and the forces of the Tigray region said on Wednesday they had accepted the African Union's invitation to hold talks in South Africa, which would be the first formal negotiations between the two sides since the outbreak of war in November 2020.

The conflict between the federal government and forces led by a party that has dominated the political scene for more than two decades in Africa's second most populous country has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions.

The two diplomatic sources, who declined to be identified, said the delay was related to organizing logistics and that no other date had been set yet.

A spokesman for the Tigray People's Liberation Front, Getachew Reda, the party that leads the regional government, said the African Union had not consulted Tigray leaders before sending the invitations.

"You can't expect people to come on a certain date as if this was some kind of friendly gathering," he added in a text message.

Ethiopian government spokesman Legisi Tolo, or African Union spokeswoman Ebba Kalondo, did not respond to requests for comment.

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