Peace talks between the warring sides of the TPLF and the government of Ethiopia have been extended into this week.
According to an official, the peace talks between Ethiopia’s federal government and representatives from the northern Tigray region continued in South Africa.
Speaking to the China Global Television Network, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that “we’re working towards peace." Ahmed asserted that Ethiopians can resolve matters themselves, he added that Ethiopian forces were currently in control of the Tigray towns of Shire, Axum, and Adwa."
Eritrean forces who have been fighting alongside Ethiopian forces are not currently party to the peace talks. It is not clear whether neighbouring Eritrea will respect any agreement reached during the peace talks. According to witnesses who spoke with AP Eritreans were killing civilians even after the talks began.
Estimates made by academics and health workers place the death toll of the war at around hundreds of thousands of people. The United Nations-backed International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia found of evidence of the Ethiopian government using drones in an “arbitrary and indiscriminate manner." The UN commissioners warned that without the cessation of hostilities “atrocity crimes are imminent."
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