Talks to bring an end to the regional conflict in Ethiopia are resumed

The second round of negotiations is being mediated by the US, Norway, and the East African trade group.

In an effort to put an end to a conflict that has raged for decades, the federal government of Ethiopia and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an armed group seeking self-determination in the country’s Oromia region, resumed talks in Tanzania on Tuesday.

A delegation from the US, the East African trade group IGAD, and Norway is mediating the peace negotiations in Tanzania’s major port city of Dar es Salaam, the Addis Standard reported on Wednesday, citing diplomatic sources.

The Ethiopian National Defence Force’s (ENDF) commander of military intelligence, General Getachew Gudina, and his deputy, Major General Demis Amenu, represent the federal government, the outlet continued.

Following a brutal two-year battle in the Tigray region that only concluded in 2022, Ethiopia is currently seeing an uptick in ethnic tensions and violence. This is in addition to the ongoing negotiations that started earlier this year.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced and hundreds of people have died as a result of years of unrest in Oromia, the largest province of Ethiopia, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa. The unrest is believed to be caused by grievances of perceived marginalisation and neglect by the federal government.

After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an opposition party that had been outlawed, came back from exile with the support of the OLA, its former military wing. It has been charged by the authorities with being involved in recent ethnic violence in the area.

Authorities have held the OLA accountable for several atrocities, including the deliberate murder of members of the Amhara ethnic group, for nearly five years following its break from the OLF. The organisation was charged in 2020 with the murder of Guji’s traditional leader and seasoned liberation fighter, Haji Umar Nagessa. It has refuted the claims on several occasions.

READ ALSO: Conflict Kills Dozens in Ethiopia’s Amhara Region – Rights Group

Amnesty International has previously expressed disapproval of Addis Ababa’s handling of attacks by armed groups in the country’s second-most populous region, Oromia and Amhara. The human rights organisation charged that Ethiopian security forces had burned homes, committed rape, extrajudicial killings, and arbitrary arrests and detentions.

In Zanzibar, Tanzania, the government and OLA had their first round of peace negotiations in May, but no agreement was reached. A few days later, the banned group alleged that the government had begun a military campaign against them, which went against pledges to give de-escalation top priority during the negotiation talks.

The second round of talks coincides with reports of fresh fighting on Sunday between armed locals and local Fano militants in Amhara’s Oromia Special Zone, which is said to have resulted in over 30 injuries and over 18 fatalities.

The UN reports that since July, at least 183 individuals have lost their lives in fighting in the Amhara region between the ENDF and residents. In reaction to the violent fighting, the government proclaimed a six-month state of emergency in August.