SHIRE Met het heropenen van een tweede binnenlandse vlucht van de hoofdstad Addis Abeba naar de stad Shire in Tigray neemt het vredesproces in deze regio een volgende stap. Vorige week werd de luchtbrug tussen Addis Abeba en de Tigrayse hoofdstad Mekelle al hersteld.

In de Tigray-regio in het noorden van Ethiopië woedde sinds november 2020 een bloedige burgeroorlog die een geschatte 500.000 levens heeft gekost. Het conflict kwam tot een voorlopig november vorig jaar door een staakt-het-vuren.

De hervatting van de binnenlandse vluchten is een uitvloeisel van een eerste bezoek van politici en zakenlieden uit Addis Abeba aan Mekelle. Onder hen de directeuren van Ethiopian Airlines, Telecom Ethiopia en de Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. Dit bezoek werd door het Tigray Volksbevrijdingsfront TPLF met verwondering verwelkomd. „Dat niemand onder de leden van de delegatie met bodyguards is gekomen, spreekt boekdelen over hun vertrouwen in Tigray’s toewijding”, zei TPLF-leider Reda Getachew in Mekelle. „Het was voor ons een emotioneel moment en blijk van hernieuwd vertrouwen”, bekende Redwan Hussein, afgezant van de Ethiopische premier Abiy Ahmed in Mekelle.

Het effect van dit bezoek is voor de inwoners van Tigray voelbaar met het terugkeren van diensten die twee jaar zijn weggeweest, en aangeven hoe verreikend de gevolgen waren van het conflict. Niet alleen vluchten zijn hersteld, ook is de politie weer op straat, het telefoonnetwerk doet het weer, bankfilialen zijn heropend en er komt weer stroom uit het stopcontact. Dat betekent dat mensen gaan denken aan wederopbouw. Hoogste tijd volgens het Wereldvoedselprogramma WFP want volgens de VN-organisatie is 30 procent van de kinderen ondervoed.

Het TPLF is positief, maar heeft vraagtekens. Zo zijn in Tigray nog strijdkrachten actief uit de Amhara-regio en de troepen van buurland Eritrea zijn nog niet weg. Maar ook hier gloort hoop. Volgens lokale berichten trekken Eritrese soldaten zich terug.

bron dft. van 5/1/23

Engelse tekst
Peace in Ethiopia one step closer

SHIRE With the reopening of a second domestic flight from the capital Addis Ababa to the town of Shire in Tigray, the peace process in this region is taking the next step. Last week, the air bridge between Addis Ababa and the Tigray capital Mekelle was already repaired.

In the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, a bloody civil war has been raging since November 2020 that has claimed an estimated 500,000 lives. The conflict came to a tentative November last year through a ceasefire.

The resumption of domestic flights follows a first visit to Mekelle by politicians and businessmen from Addis Ababa. Among them are the directors of Ethiopian Airlines, Telecom Ethiopia and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. This visit was welcomed with amazement by the Tigray People's Liberation Front TPLF. “The fact that none of the members of the delegation have come with bodyguards speaks volumes about their confidence in Tigray's dedication,” said TPLF leader Reda Getachew in Mekelle. “It was an emotional moment for us and a sign of renewed confidence,” said Redwan Hussein, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's envoy in Mekelle.

The effect of this visit has been felt by the residents of Tigray with the return of services that have been gone for two years, highlighting the far-reaching effects of the conflict. Not only flights have been restored, the police are back on the streets, the telephone network is working again, bank branches have reopened and power is coming out of the socket again. That means people are starting to think about reconstruction. High time according to the World Food Program WFP because, according to the UN organization, 30 percent of children are malnourished.

The TPLF is positive, but has question marks. For example, armed forces from the Amhara region are still active in Tigray and the troops from neighboring Eritrea have not yet left. But here too there is hope. According to local reports, Eritrean soldiers are withdrawing.

and
Ethiopia sets out on long road to peace after two years of war
Story by By Tommy Wilkes
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A year that began with no end in sight for one of the world's deadliest conflicts finished on a note of cautious optimism in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray after a November ceasefire agreement.

The two-year-long war has caused a dire humanitarian crisis, killing tens of thousands, leaving millions in severe need of food and threatening the stability of Africa's second-most populous country.

On Nov. 2, Ethiopia's federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a guerrilla force-turned political party that dominates the region, agreed to stop fighting following African Union-mediated talks.

Civil war erupted in November 2020 after months of escalating recriminations between the two sides.

The TPLF, which dominated Ethiopia for nearly three decades before Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, accuses his government of wanting to centralise power at the expense of regions. Abiy accuses the TPLF of trying to regain national power. Each side rejects the other's narrative.

Human rights violations by all sides - including extrajudicial killings, rapes and looting - have been documented by United Nations agencies, Ethiopia's state appointed human rights commission and media including Reuters. All sides deny the allegations.

The truce has enabled international aid deliveries to resume to parts of Tigray. Last week, state-owned Ethiopian Airlines resumed flights to Tigray's capital.

But the prospects for peace remain uncertain.

Related video: Ethiopian Government delegation visits Tigray after the peace agreement (WION)

Although Eritrea, a sworn enemy of the TPLF that has fought on the side of Abiy's government, began withdrawing some of its forces from two major Tigray towns last week, it is not yet clear whether its troops will pull out of Tigray altogether.

Until they do, diplomats and analysts worry Tigray forces will refuse to disarm, risking a resumption of hostilities.

WHY IT MATTERS

Ethiopia is a military and diplomatic powerhouse in East Africa, strategically located between war-torn Somalia, Kenya and Sudan.

Prior to the conflict, investors had flocked to Ethiopia for a slice of one of the last largely untapped economies in Africa, which had begun to open up to foreign companies.

Ethiopia's military, which is regarded as the most effective in the Horn of Africa, plays a key role in an African Union (AU) peace-keeping force in Somalia and has also sent troops there independently.

There is also the ongoing humanitarian fallout. Aid agencies complain the Ukraine war has diverted attention from the unfolding disaster in Ethiopia.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR 2023?

This year will be key to determining whether the ceasefire reached in November can deliver a lasting peace in northern Ethiopia.

Major issues remain to be resolved, including the withdrawal of Eritrean and other forces that have fought alongside the government and the future of disputed territory claimed by both Tigray and the neighbouring region of Amhara.

International partners are heavily invested in ending the war. The AU, Kenya and South Africa helped mediate the truce and are keen to deliver an African solution to the problem. The United States has said it will not hesitate to impose sanctions on parties that fail to abide by the truce.

Ethiopia, seeking to revive interest from foreign investors, has restarted the sale of a 40% stake in state-owned Ethio Telecom and a separate plan to issue a second full telecoms licence.

It is also targeting a debt restructuring under the Group of 20's Common Framework and has asked the International Monetary Fund for a new loan programme, but progress has been complicated by the war.

Explore the Reuters round-up of news stories that dominated the year, and the outlook for 2023.

(Reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Sun Peak mining has there their mine.(red.XEA.nl)