Ethiopia war: Tigray rebels agree to humanitarian ceasefire
Addis Ababa, Mar 25 (EFE).- The rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which has been fighting Ethiopian government forces since November 2020, committed to a ceasefire on Friday.
The announcement came hours after the Ethiopian government declared an “indefinite humanitarian truce” on Thursday night with immediate effect.
In a statement issued on Friday morning, the TPLF said: “should the right circumstances arise for our people to receive the level of humanitarian assistance commensurate with the needs on the ground and within a reasonable time frame, the government of Tigray commits to implement a cessation of hostilities with immediate effect.”
“We call on the Ethiopian authorities to go beyond empty promises and take concrete steps to facilitate unrestricted humanitarian access to Tigray,” the rebels said, adding that “the people and government of Tigray will do everything possible to give peace a chance.”
In its statement on Thursday, the Ethiopian government said it had declared the truce to allow the “free flow of emergency humanitarian aid to all those in need,” ending months of what the United Nations has described as a “de facto blockade” in the region.
The war broke out on November 4, 2020, when Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed ordered an offensive against the TPLF – the ruling party in the country’s northernmost region – in retaliation for an attack on a federal military base in Tigray amid an escalation of political tensions.
According to the UN, some 5.2 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in Tigray and the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar.
Thousands of people have been killed and some two million have been forced to flee their homes due to the violence. EFE
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