Uhuru Kenyatta, the former president of Kenya, and other African Union negotiators stated on Thursday that a delegation would travel to Mekele, the capital of Tigray, in the coming days to evaluate the implementation of the Ethiopia peace agreement.
Kenyatta, the AU-appointed mediator, stated during a news conference following the conclusion of the second round of negotiations between officials from the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), that the team would be in Mekele “before the end of this month.”
Kenyatta said that an agreement had been struck to grant the AU team complete access to oversee the deal’s execution.
“They have all concurred and agreed to give the monitoring and verification team of the African Union full access, full 360-degree viewpoint to ensure all the elements of the agreements are actually going to be implemented,” Kenyatta said.
To discuss the execution of the peace accord struck in November, AU negotiators, representatives of the Ethiopian government, and officials from Tigray met on Wednesday.
“The true statement that they need to make will be the statement they make when we are in Mekele in the next few days, observing and verifying the actions. Because documents are one thing, what we want now are the deliverables,” Kenyatta said of the ongoing process.
The TPLF rebel group said that several areas of the Tigray region are having trouble getting access to crucial humanitarian aid at the time of the meeting. The rebels attribute the issues to the Eritrean army’ presence in Tigray, which they entered during the conflict to support the Ethiopian government.
Since the peace agreement was signed, the Ethiopian government claims that more than 8 million people in the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray areas have received humanitarian aid.
After more than a year and a half, the deal has made it possible to send humanitarian aid to Tigray and to restart the banking and telecommunications infrastructures.
Following negotiations mediated by the African Union in South Africa, the Ethiopian government and the TPLF signed a permanent cessation of hostilities.
