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Ethiopia's Tigray Confl ict: Truce Agreed
from DAWN
By Getachew Reda
A DEAL HAS BEEN REACHED
in the Ethiopian civil war with both sides agreeing to halt their two-year confl ict which led to thousands of deaths and warnings of a famine.
The African Union (AU) has called it a new "dawn", AFP news agency says.
The agreement between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces should allow aid deliveries to resume.
Almost 90% of people in the northern Tigray region need food aid, the World Health Organization says.
About a third of the region's children are suff ering from malnutrition.
Both sides agreed to a disarmament plan as well as unhindered access to humanitarian supplies, said former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who mediated the talks.
He said the deal was just the beginning of the peace process in Ethiopia.
The war has caused massive suff ering in Tigray
Speaking after the announcement, Tigray representatives said they hoped the two sides would honour the deal, the Reuters news agency reports.
They also said the fact an agreement was made showed both sides were ready to fi nd a peaceful way forward, Reuters says.
The foreign minister of the country where the talks are being held - South Africa - also appealed to both sides to stick to the agreement. Nalendi Pandor warned that there are "no winners in war".
The UN said it supported the path to peace: "This is an opportunity to chart a new course. The young
Redwan Hussien Rameto (L) from the Ethiopian government, and Getachew Reda (R), who represents Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), shook hands on the deal. Member of the negotiation team, former president of Kenya Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, is in the center. Photograph: Phill Magakoe/AFP/ Getty Images The war has caused massive suff ering in Tigray men and women who have been mobilised to fi ght will now have the chance to return to their homes and their families," said Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, the body's special envoy for the Horn of Africa. https://news.yahoo.com/ethiopias-tigray-conflicttruce-agreed-163628193.html
