BY ADDISALEM MULAT
The African Union has been expressing its readiness to broker a peace deal between the democratically elected federal government and the terrorist TPLF group. And, the incumbent has been heeding the peace calls persistently taking strings of measures in a show of good gesture. On the contrary, the terrorist TPLF failed to reciprocate and rather engaged in belittling the AU throwing blistering attacks and false allegations against the bloc’s envoy.
Against the backdrop of the criminal TPLF’s renewed attacks against Ethiopia, the continental bloc has once again invited the federal government and the rebellious TPLF clique to peace talks in South Africa.
Yet again, TPLF has continued downplaying the proposed peace under the pretense of a wide spectrum of lame reasons. In what could be said an affront to African institutions, the unlawful group has been however clamoring for the involvement of foreign forces in the AU-led peace initiative. This contradiction clearly signals TPLF’s colonial mentality and attests to its contempt towards African institutions and values.
It is to be recalled that the group expressed a lack of confidence in the AU-led peace talks and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria as High Representative for the Horn of Africa.
It is to be noted that Ethiopia has been showing its readiness for peace talks under the auspices of the African Union without any preconditions and to talk anytime, anywhere, and also to resolve all problems throughout the country peacefully as conflicts lead to failure and destruction. In this regard, the government of Ethiopia formed a committee that has seven members, led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Demeke Mekonnen.
As the federal government knows the fact that the desired destination can be attained under the AU-led peace talks, the criminal enterprise has been mystifying the wider international community by coming up with preconditions and lame reasons.
It appears clear that regardless of the fact that the deceitfully calling for the cessation of hostilities and peace talks has been disrupting the entire peace process under the guise of a number of requirements.
It is no secret that in the face of the Ethiopian government’s unflinching stance to beat swords into plowshares, the criminal enterprise has been now and then pouring cold water on the highly expected peace process by belittling the role of the African Union.
As a matter of fact, to this point, a lot of efforts have been made by the Ethiopian government to cease hostilities. By way of illustration, the incumbent so far has set up a high-level committee aimed at preparing the way for the peace talks and attaining the objective in the shortest possible time.
Despite that, the criminal group has been again and again hampering the positive efforts of the peace process continuing its provocative acts. It is an indisputable fact that Ethiopia has been going to the ends of the earth in many instances intending to bury the hatchet by bringing a wide spectrum of effective strategies into play.
In point of fact, as the illegal group does not believe in living in peace and harmony under Ethiopian skies with the various Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples of Ethiopia, it has been giving the cold shoulder to the AU-lead peace talks under the veil of a diverse range of poor reasons.
On top of that, as the terrorist group works around the clock with some internal and external actors, it has sustained brushing aside the good initiatives surfacing in every nook and cranny of the country. Albeit the government has avowed its unflinching stance to allow the past unpleasant things to be forgotten under the auspices of the AU-led Peace talks, the desired destination has not been achieved yet as a consequence of the reluctance of the group.
In a similar vein, even though the incumbent has been moving heaven and earth to restore peace and stability in the northern part of the country, the ragtag group has sustained getting off the subject and playing a part in beating the drums of war. Above and beyond, as nothing makes the criminal organization happier than sticking the blame on the government and other nefarious deeds, it has been mystifying the wider international community with fake stories concerning the AU-led peace talks.
Although the illegal group has perpetrated a wide spectrum of criminal deeds with no ill consequences in the northern part of the country, the government has been sparing no effort to end hostilities intending to get to the bottom of the problem in an atmosphere of calm. It is crystal clear that since the onset of the terrorist group, the government has been endeavoring to turn the tide making use of a broad range of solutions that can end the conflict.
It should be borne in mind that giving peace a chance, the federal government had declared a unilateral truce and withdraw its troops from the Tigray state. Apart from declaring a humanitarian truce, lifting the state of emergency, and other concrete steps, the incumbent has released the criminal group’s ill-famed leaders from prisons and allowed unfettered access to humanitarian aid.
Dejectedly, rather than coming to the negotiating table, the group in the present climate is intensifying its fresh attacks. To everyone’s dismay, for the love of not accepting the proposed peace talks, the group has been many a time and oft coming up with cock-and-bull stories and confounding the international community. The incumbent has made quite a lot of endeavors to resolve differences in an atmosphere of calm.
It is clear that a peaceful resolution of the conflict has been the number one priority of the Ethiopian government. And, it has reaffirmed its commitment time and time again to take part in the AU-led negotiation.
The African Union (AU) – brokered negotiation to mediate the Federal government of Ethiopia and Terrorist TPLF is the only solution as it helps pave the way for future peace talks, so remarked a sociologist.
In his interview with International media, Iona University Sociology Associate Professor Derese Kassa (Ph.D.) said that he is hoping that the new architecture would work out and both sides would find some sort of a modus operandi to resolve the issues and come out from the talks with at least a framework of what the next round of talks should look like.
Besides, the government of Ethiopia stuck with the notion that “We should be able to find an African solution for African problems”. So what happened right now is both parties seem to be exhausted and fatigued by the conflict. So, they should give the AU a chance, he opined.
To him, the first round of these talks would be about future talks. There would be preliminary talks and it needs to agree on the protocol. Most importantly, agenda items should be carved out for a comprehensive peace dialogue. Though, T- TPLF has renewed the war and ordered all people in Tigray state to join its military recently.
With regard to AU’s official invitation to peace talks, the Ethiopian government said that the proposed talk is consistent with its prior positions.
According to Government Communication Service (GCS), the government of Ethiopia remains committed to adopting all possible measures to resolve the conflict in a manner that ensures lasting peace and territorial integrity of the country and would continue upholding this commitment.
In his Twitter message, Redwan Hussien, Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, on his part noted that the invitation is in line with our principled position regarding the peaceful resolution of the conflict and the need to have talks without preconditions.
AUs’ peace proposal has been accepted by other countries and expressed their commitment to support the initiative.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held an Informal Interactive Dialogue (IID) in Ethiopia recently and underlined the importance of the AU-led process in resolving the north Ethiopia conflict.
Ethiopia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amb. TayeAtske Selassie said further that the IID stressed respecting the sovereignty of Ethiopia. He told local media that during the course of IID, most member states have shown unwavering support for AU-led peace talks and stood against any parallel peace initiatives.
By the same token, they have also appreciated the Ethiopian government‘s commitment to ensuring peace, Amb. Taye Atskeselassie added. African countries, on the one hand, stressed that the AU has to do its job freely and urged some forces to restrain from putting pressure.
According to the Ambassador, more or less, the member states have also come to an agreement that TPLF is the one that provoked the third round of conflict against the government of Ethiopia.
Furthermore, he reminded that though few European countries called for a formal meeting on the situation in Ethiopia however, other member states firmly opposed the format and instead chose to hold IID.
Moreover, though the meeting was held under IID format, he underlined that it has undeniable significance in understanding whether the member states have a change of stance, as well as if they have an information gap regarding the issue of Ethiopia. Similarly, it helps to deepen their understanding of the Horn of Africa and Ethiopia, as to him
The Ethiopian Herald 18 October 2022
