Ethiopia: a government delegation on an official visit to Tigray

The statue of Alula Aba Nega, Ethiopian general from Tigray, in front of the airport in Mekele, capital of the Tigray region of Ethiopia, on June 25, 2021. (illustration image) © YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP

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2 mins

A delegation from the Ethiopian government arrived on Monday morning in Mekele, the capital of Tigray.

This visit of "

" officials, led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tagesse Chafo, aims to oversee the implementation of the peace agreement between the rebel authorities of Tigray and the Ethiopian federal government, signed on November 2 in Pretoria.

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With our regional correspondent

,

The delegation notably includes Prime Minister's national security adviser Redwan Hussein as well as several ministers including those of Justice, Transport and Communications, Industry and Labour.

She was welcomed in the morning by dissident regional authorities, including their spokesperson Getachew Reda, according to photos published by Tigrayan media.

This is the first time that representatives from Addis Ababa have visited Mekele since the start of the conflict more than two years ago.

But, according to a source in the Tigrayan government, informal negotiations have already taken place in early December, in Shire, between representatives of the two camps. 

last week, where rebels and the government approved the establishment of a monitoring mechanism for the agreement responsible for monitoring, among other things, the disarmament of Tigrayan forces and the withdrawal of foreign troops. .

Towards a beginning of dialogue?

For the federal government, this visit to Mekele is “ 

 ”.

Since

on November 2, the fighting has stopped.

The rebels claim to have " 

" 65% of their troops, which no independent source has been able to verify.

Humanitarian aid is arriving very slowly in the region.

A senior Tigrayan government official in Mekele hopes that this meeting will allow " 

 " with the Ethiopian government and insists on two demands: the complete resumption of services cut in Tigray and the withdrawal from the region of all forces that are not part of the Ethiopian army.

The Tigrayans continue to denounce the

and Amhara forces.

► To read also: In Ethiopia, two years of bloody war

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