In Ethiopia, a large high-level delegation representing the international community arrived in Mekele, the capital of Tigray on Thursday 29 December, for the first time since the Pretoria agreements. The African Union mediators Uhuru Kenyatta and Olusegun Obansanjo were on the trip, as well as the secretary general of the regional organization Igad and around thirty senior African and Western diplomats.
Every day its strong gesture as we say in politics. This Thursday this gesture was made on the tarmac of Mekele airport, still just reopened to air traffic: an Ethiopian Airlines plane landed with Uhuru Kenyatta on board, all smiles and repeating how much he was ” happy alongside Olusegun Obasanjo and followed by Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu. Either some of the most important negotiators of the Pretoria agreement.
All have multiplied the accolades with the president of the Tigray regional government Debretsion Gebremichael and his military strategist, General Tsadkan Gebretensae.
Then paraded for handshakes 32 African and European diplomats and soldiers, including the British Ambassador, the Ethiopian Minister of Justice and representatives of international financial institutions. And a humanitarian plane from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also landed with them.
On the agenda: the continuation of discussions between the former belligerents of course, but above all the launch of the AU observation and monitoring mechanism, provided for by the Pretoria peace agreement.
But it was also a question of giving guarantees to Tigray, while the federal police announced that they had officially resumed their duties this Thursday in Mekele, to protect federal institutions. ” A battalion of the federal army also entered Tigray peacefully, according to Getachew Reda, the adviser to the president of the Tigray government.
The telephone calls were restored this Thursday in Mekele, after more than two years of interruption. However, at this stage the entire region has not yet been able to be reconnected to the network.
If we combine our efforts, there is not much that can resist us. I want to say how much we appreciate what has already been achieved, although there is still a long way to go before the full range of basic services, which the Tigrayan people greatly deserve, are fully restored. But as long as there is a commitment – and I believe there is a commitment – nothing can stop us from achieving our goals. Of course, we can accomplish more. There is still a long way to go. There are disruptors, in the form of alien forces. There are measures to be taken to protect the civilian population. But what we have already seen is that when we put in a joint effort, we can overcome anything.
For Getachew Reda, adviser to the president of the government of Tigray, the arrival of this delegation in Mekele is a sign that “the common effort” must continue.
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