NAIROBI: The African Union called for an unconditional ceasefire in northern Ethiopia on Sunday and urged the warring parties to “recommit” to peace talks, as violence intensifies in the Tigray region.

The city of Shire, in northwest Tigray, has been bombarded for days in a joint offensive by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops, with civilian casualties reported in the push against rebels from the war-torn region.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has joined the United States and other Western powers in voicing alarm over the worsening violence and its toll on civilians, and calling for both sides to settle “this catastrophic conflict”.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, and the Tigrayan authorities, have accepted an AU invitation to talk, but negotiations scheduled to start last weekend in South Africa failed to materialise and no new date has been announced. AU Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed “grave concern” about the upsurge in violence and called for “an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian services” into areas cut off by the fighting.

“The Chairperson urges the Parties to recommit to dialogue as per their agreement to direct talks to be convened in South Africa by a high-level team led by the AU High Representative for the Horn of Africa, and supported by the international community,” he said in a statement issued Sunday, but dated Saturday.

A government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment when contacted by AFP.

Getachew Reda, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), welcomed the AU statement “in light of the extremely alarming humanitarian crisis unfolding as a result of the campaign by the Eritrean army and its Ethiopian allies”.

Talks were to be mediated by the bloc’s Horn of Africa envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, South Africa’s former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta.

Diplomats suggested logistical issues were partly to blame for the much-anticipated meeting not going ahead.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2022