An Ethiopian government delegation made its way to the capital of Tigray on Monday morning for the first official visit by senior federal officials more than two years after the start of a conflict in the rebel region, the government announced.
The group of officials, led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tagesse Chafo, is to “oversee the implementation of the main points of the peace agreement” signed on November 2 with the Tigrayan rebel authorities, the government’s communication service said in a statement on Facebook.
The government and rebel authorities signed an agreement in Pretoria on November 2 to end a war that has ravaged northern Ethiopia for two years, killing tens of thousands and plunging the region into a deep humanitarian crisis.
The agreement provides for the disarmament of rebel forces, the re-establishment of federal authority in Tigray and the reopening of access to the region.
The fighting began in November 2020, when Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army to arrest leaders in the region who had been challenging his authority for months and whom he accused of attacking federal military bases.