Ethiopia: AU envoy sees ‘window of opportunity’ to bring peace to conflict-hit region

The African Union’s envoy for the Horn of Africa warned Monday that there is a short ‘window of opportunity’ and little time to reverse the crisis in Ethiopia.

Amid the conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray leaders, the African Union’s envoy for the Horn of Africa said there is a window of opportunity to change the conflict region into a “peaceful region”. However, the envoy warned to catch the opportunity swiftly in order to reverse the crisis in northern Ethiopia. Notably, the condition of the rugged, landlocked country split by the Great Rift Valley worsened after the Ethiopian government declared a national state of emergency on Tuesday following a threat of rival Tigray forces to move on the capital. According to a report by AP, the former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, told the UN Security Council that he had visited the conflict region and discussed the ongoing situation with Ethiopia’s president and prime minister, and the presidents of the Tigray and Oromo regions whose forces are fighting government troops

Less time to solve Ethiopian conflict

According to him, all the leaders admitted that the differences among them are “political” and would be solved “politically” through dialogues. Obasanjo, who briefed the UN body from the capital Addis Ababa, reiterated his commitment to visit the Amhara and Afar regions in order to convert the “agitation” views of the leaders. The former President said he would appeal to the leaders of the conflict regions to withdraw the troops from the region and allow access to humanitarian assistance to the civilians affected due to the political instability.

“Before the end of this week, we hope to have a programme in hand that will indicate how we can get the humanitarian and the withdrawal of troops all together to meet the … immediate demand of the stakeholders on both sides of the conflict,” news agency AP quoted the former President as saying.

Ethiopia govt arrests people based on ethnicity: Reports

After months of political anxieties between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration and the Tigray leaders who once ruled Ethiopia’s government erupted into war last year. The situation got worst when the Ethiopian government the announcement of national emergency. According to a report by CNN, the administration has been arresting the common people of Ethiopia “based on ethnicity.” Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s state-appointed human rights commission (EHRC) noted that the state of emergency gave “special privileges” to the administration to arrest people on the basis of mere suspicion. state of emergency gave “special privileges” to the administration to arrest people on the basis of mere suspicion. The human rights commission said that the authorities are detaining people by saying “they are involved with the terror outfits.”

With inputs from AP