Ethiopia, TPLF discuss ceasefire implementation

Ethiopia and representatives from the regional state of Tigray held talks on Monday aimed at resolving the lingering issues about the implementation of a ceasefire agreement reached in November 2022.

The deal signed in Pretoria, South Africa helped end more than two years of deadly fighting. 

Under the accord, the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) agreed to disarm, demobilize and to hand over heavy weapons to the federal army.

Ethiopia would in exchange scale up the provision of humanitarian assistance, remove the presence of foreign forces and fund the reconstruction of war affected areas.

But Tigray's leaders have accused Addis Ababa of reneging on the deal and refusing to implement key clauses of the understanding brokered by the African Union.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta are mediating the talks.

Fighting started in 2020 when TPLF fighters attacked federal troops stationed in Tigray, killing soldiers and stealing weapons.