The agreement followed talks in the Kenyan capital Nairobi this week on the full implementation of an agreement signed between the warring sides 10 days ago to end the violent two-year conflict in northern Ethiopia. “The parties agreed to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access to those in need of assistance in Tigray and neighboring regions,” according to a joint statement read at a press conference in Nairobi on Saturday. The agreement was signed by Major General Berhanu Dzoula, Chief of Staff of the Ethiopian Armed Forces, and General Tadesse Worede, Commander-in-Chief of the Tigray Rebel Forces. African Union Special Envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, who brokered the peace talks, said Saturday’s deal had “immediate effect”. The two sides also agreed to establish a joint committee to implement a militant disarmament agreement with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the statement said. After just over a week of negotiations in the South African capital, Pretoria, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the TPLF signed a peace deal on November 2 that was hailed by the international community as a crucial first step in ending the bloodshed. – The restoration of aid to Tigray and its 6 million inhabitants was one of the key points of the agreement. Ethiopia’s northernmost region faces a severe humanitarian crisis due to food and medicine shortages and limited access to basic services, including electricity, banking and communications. “We have suffered unspeakable misery for the past two years and continue to suffer,” Tadese said. “Thus, the commitment we are making today is in the hope that the suffering of our people will end soon.” Berhanu promised the government’s “full commitment to peace and stability in our people and our country.” International pressure for a ceasefire had mounted since heavy fighting broke out in late August, shattering a five-month ceasefire that had allowed limited aid to reach Tigray. The Pretoria agreement specifically calls for an end to hostilities, restoration of humanitarian aid, restoration of federal authority in Tigray and disarmament of TPLF fighters. The conflict between the TPLF and pro-Abiy forces, which includes regional militias and the Eritrean army, has caused an untold number of deaths, forced more than 2 million people from their homes and driven hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine in Tigray. Estimates of casualties vary widely, with the United States saying half a million people have died, while EU foreign envoy Josep Borrell said more than 100,000 people may have been killed. The UN-backed investigators have accused all sides of committing abuses, but also accused Addis Ababa of using starvation as a weapon of war – claims denied by Ethiopian authorities. Abiy said last week that his government, whose forces had claimed major gains in the Tigray battlefield in recent weeks, had secured “100 percent” of what it had sought in the peace talks. On Friday, the government said its forces controlled 70 percent of Tigray and aid was being sent, including 35 food trucks and three medicine trucks to the strategic town of Shire. But the rebels and a Tigray-based aid worker immediately denied the claims. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization called for a massive influx of food and medicine into Tigray after the cease-fire agreement, saying aid has not yet been allowed. “Many people die from treatable diseases. Many people are dying of hunger,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is from Tigray, told a news conference.
