Ethiopian president Sahle-work Zewde calls for negotiations to end Tigray war

Ethiopia's president Sahle-work Zewde has reiterated calls for negotiations and other peaceful resolutiion means to end the country's nearly two year civil war.

Zewde made the call while addressing the Ethiopian parliament Monday on the budget for the next fiscal year.

"The government has stated clearly that it will always keep the door open for peace. We continue to urge for negotiations without any conditions, believing that any form of differences may be resolved through discussions." says Zewde.

She however also stated that at the same time the Government of Ethiopia will not tolerate any provocation by TPLF.

President Zewde's remarks come at a time the long-awaited AU brokered peace talks in South Africa were postponed wihout any new date set. The meeting between the warring sides in the two-year-old conflict in Tigray would have been the first since a ceasefire broke down in late August.

"This year, we must put all of our efforts to bring the war that has tested our nation to end in peace." 

There are no confirmed figures on how many people the war has left to die of hunger and related illnesses since it started in November of 2020, but some investigations and estimates, one of them from a team of researchers led by Jan Nyssen of Ghent University in Belgium found the toll was likely at least 500,000. 

The conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political group that has ruled the northern region for decades, and Ethiopian central government forces began in November 2020.