East African and African Union officials have arrived in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to launch a joint monitoring and verification mechanism for a peace deal signed in November to end the two-year war.
The mediation team, led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as African Union representatives and diplomats from several countries, arrived in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region, on Thursday.
The team that helped broker a peace agreement between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in South Africa is closely monitoring the progress of the ceasefire.
The warring factions agreed to form a joint African Union monitoring team to ensure that the peace deal is implemented and that there are no ceasefire violations.
The visiting delegation was received by the president of the Tigray region, Debretsion Gebremichael, and will be monitoring the full implementation of the peace agreement.
The agreement calls for the restoration of all services, the provision of adequate aid to the population in need, the disarmament of rebel groups and the withdrawal of foreign forces and other militia groups from the region.
The delegation’s visit comes as the Tigray rebel group prepares to disarm and hand over the region to the federal government. The Tigray rebel group hesitates to accept the measure because it accuses the Eritrean troops of attacking the population and hindering humanitarian aid, as well as the presence of militias from the Amhara and Afar regions.
The government restored telecommunication services to more cities this week, and Ethiopian Airlines flew to Mekele for the first time in nearly two years on Wednesday, allowing families to reconnect.
