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An Ethiopian government delegation visited the capital of Tigray recently; the first official visit by senior federal officials since the start of a conflict in the rebel region more than two years ago
An Ethiopian government delegation visited the capital of Tigray recently; the first official visit by senior federal officials since the start of a conflict in the rebel region more than two years ago.
The delegation was led by Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tagesse Chafo, and included 20 other high-ranking officials. The objective of the delegation was to gather first-hand information about the implementation of the peace agreement signed on November 2 with the Tigrayan rebel authorities.
The other members of the delegation included Prime Minister’s National Security Advisor Redwan Hussein, Ministers of Justice Gedion Timotheos, Transport and Communications Dagmawit Moges, and Industry Melaku Alebel. Ethiopian Airlines and Ethio Telecom CEOs, Mesfin Tassew and Frehiwot Tamiru, respectively, were part of the delegation.
The delegation’s visit follows the truce that was signed in Pretoria on November 2 to end a war that has ravaged northern Ethiopia for two years. Upshots of the agreement are the disarmament of rebel forces, the re-establishment of federal authority in Tigray, and the reopening of access to the region.
According to reports, fighting has stopped and food and medical aid are gradually arriving. Rebels have announced that they have disengaged 65% of their fighters from the front lines. The town of Mekele has been connected to the national electricity grid. As reported by www.trendsnafrica.com , major banks have started functioning and banking operations are expected to be in full swing shortly.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/kenyatta-to-monitor-implementation-of-truce-in-tigray/
https://trendsnafrica.com/after-two-years-of-war-tigray-limping-back-to-normalcy/
However, there are still reports of violence spearheaded by the neighbouring country -Eritrea, and the security forces and militias of the Ethiopian region of Amhara, which borders Tigray to the south. Importantly, these two forces lent a hand to the Ethiopian army during the conflict. However, they were not present at the Pretoria talks.
