By John Ikani
The African Union (AU) has set October 24, as the new date for peace talks to resolve Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict.
The peace talks between Ethiopia’s warring factions will be held in South Africa, according to the Ethiopian prime minister’s national security adviser, Redwan Hussien.
The talks were initially scheduled for early this month but did not go ahead as planned.
In a tweet, Mr Hussien said the talks with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) will now be held on October 24 and confirmed the government’s participation.
He added: “We are dismayed that some are bent on pre-empting the peace talks and spreading false allegations against the defensive measures.”
AUC has informed us that the Peace Talks is set for 24 Oct,2022 to be held in South Africa.We have reconfirmed our commitment to participate. However,We are dismayed that some are bent on preempting the peace talks & spreading false allegations against the defensive measures.
— Redwan Hussien (@RedwanHussien) October 20, 2022
The TPLF has not commented on the new date but had previously welcomed peace talks with the government.
Fighting broke out between government troops and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopia for decades and now controls most of Tigray.
Power struggle, an election and a push for political reform are among several factors that led to the crisis.
Hostilities continues in the two-year long civil war with government soldiers this week seizing three towns in the northern Tigray region from the rebels.
On Monday, UN Secretary General António Guterres said the “situation in Ethiopia is spiralling out of control” and called for an urgent resumption of peace talks.
